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A  CITYLESS 


.   .    .    AND 


COUNTRYLESS  WORLD 


AN   OUTLINE   OF 


Practical  Go-Operative  Individualism 


BY 


HENRY   OLERICH. 


HoLSTKiN,  Iowa. 


Published  by  gilmore  &  OLERICH, 

HOLSTEIN,  IOWA. 


Entered  according  to  act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  iSgj,  by  Henry 
Olcrich,  in  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  IWjshington. 


W.    ■■  CONKCV  CO.,    PRINTERS  AND   BINDERS,    CHICAGO, 


PREFACE 


ONE  who  is  not  totally  blind  and  insensible  to  our 
present  conditions  and  to  the  passing  events,  can 
see  at  a  glance  that  mankind  in  nearly  all  its  activities  is 
still  harassed  by  detestable  friction.  It  is  true  that  we 
have  made  wonderful  achievements  in  our  so-called  sci- 
ences. Intelligence  as  a  whole  has  ever  broadened  and 
deepened.  We  have  photographedstars  too  remote  to  be 
seen  even  with  the  most  powerful  telescopes.  We  have 
weighed  the  planets  and  have  ascertained  their  dis- 
tances. We  have  ascended  into  the  clouds  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  naked  eye.  We  have  explored  the  bottom 
of  the  sea  and  have  examined  the  deep  strata  of  the 
earth's  crust.  Our  cities  are  illuminated  with  a  contin- 
uous flash  of  lightning.  Architectural  skill  has  erected 
colossal  structures  which  it  has  splendidly  finished  and 
gorgeously  decorated  with  the  hand  of  art.  By  the 
telegraph  and  telephone  we  have  almost  annihilated 
time  and  space.  In  the  phonograph  we  have  impressed 
a  voice  on  the  mineral  kingdom.  On  the  floating  pal- 
ace of  the  ocean  we  can,  in  a  few  days,  migrate  from 
one  continent  to  the  other.  We  journey  in  comforta- 
ble, speedy  trains.  Wonderful  agricultural  implements 
till  the  soil.  Manufacturing  and  mining  have  devel- 
oped to  gigantic  industries.  The  expansive  force  of 
steam   and  the    electric    current   turn   our   ponderous 


4  PREFACE. 

wheels  of  toil.  Everywhere  progress  is  visible.  The 
food,  clothing,  shelter  and  luxuries  of  the  masses  are, 
no  doubt,  better  now  than  they  were  ever  before  in  the 
history  of  the  human  race.  Mental  activity  is  bolder, 
broader  and  freer.  Fights,  quarrels,  paternalism  and 
monopoly  are  gradually  diminishing. 

But  notwithstanding  all  this,  there  is  still  room  for 
vast  improvement;  and  one  who  has  the  real  interest 
of  himself  and  companions  at  heart  will  not  close  his 
eyes  against  existing  evils.  He  will  boldly  and  fear- 
lessly face  them,  and  endeavor  to  diminish  them  by  a 
diffusion  of  a  higher  and  wider  intelligence. 

A  thoughtful  observer  can  not  wend  his  way  in  any 
direction  but  what  he  is  still  confronted  by  abominable 
evils  which  are  still  preying  on  the  purity,  well-being 
and  happiness  of  mankind. 

In  our  cities  we  meet  countless  men,  women  and 
children  with  pale  faces,  who  are  starving  for  want  of 
sunshine,  pure  air  and  out-door  exercise.  Thousands 
of  industrious  persons  are  forced  idlers.  Thousands 
are  living  in  hovels  and  garrets  unfit  for  a  human  abode. 
Thousands  are  paupers  and  tramps.  A  countless  army 
of  men,  women  and  children  are  mere  machines,  work- 
ing a  long,  toilsome  day  in  a  mill,  factory,  or  workshop. 
A  large  class  of  women,  in  order  to  make  a  livelihood, 
are  selling  themselves  into  marriage,  or  for  other  vile 
purposes.  Our  farmers  are  largely  spending  their  lives 
in  country  solitudes,  toiling  principally  for  the  capital- 
ist and  landlord. 

A  vast  multitude,  in  fact  nearly  all  of  our  so-called 
laborers,  are  toiling  so  hard  and  so  long  daily,  for  their 
mere  material  subsistence  that  little,  if  any,  energy  is 
left  for  personal  cleanliness  and  mental  culture.     Our 


PREFACE.  5 

land  tenure  monopolizes  the  earth's  surface.  Our  me- 
dium of  exchange  which  is  rapidly  concentrating  wealth 
offers  special  privileges  to  the  rich.  Our  system  of 
education  is  largely  cruel,  unnatural  and  otherwise  in- 
jurious. Husband  and  wife,  parent  and  child,  often 
quarrel  and  fight  and  sometimes  kill  each  other  and 
commit  suicide. 

Our  government  is  largely  invasive  and  despotic, 
and  principally  run  by  politicians,  who  are  grossly 
ignorant  of  the  psycological  principles  of  human 
nature.  Children,  on  the  one  hand,  are  neglected 
and  starving,  both  physically  and  mentally;  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  they  are  tyrants  and  little  more  than 
grown-up  babies.  Care  and  sorrow  are  stamped  upon 
nearly  every  brow  one  meets.  Mothers,  as  a  rule,  are 
maternal  slaves,  feeble  and  care-worn.  Strife,  revenge 
and  jealousy  are  absorbing  a  large  share  of  our  best 
energies.  Much  of  our  labor  is  unproductive  and 
destructive,  and  most  of  our  machinery,  tools  and 
means  of  transportation  are  manipulated  in  the  interest 
of  the  rich.  Paternalism  stunts  individuality,  and 
monopoly  prevents  the  masses  from  becoming  pros- 
perous. 

It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  a  stupid,  ignorant  per- 
son, unlike  an  intelligent  one,  can  bear  most  any  burden 
without  being  galled  by  it.  Hence  all  our  present  agi- 
tations, dissatisfactions  and  utterances  of  discontent 
are  only  so  many  tongues  that  are  beginning  to  speak 
by  the  force  of  a  rising  intelligence  and  an  increasing 
sensibility,  which  causes  the  victims  slowly  to  become 
conscious  of  their  unjust  burdens. 

It  is,  no  doubt,  true  that,  as  a  whole,  we  have  been 
and  are    still    gradually    marching   toward    individual 


6  PREFACE. 

freedom  and  equity,  but,  as  we  have  seen,  are  still  far 
from  haviuL^  attained  them.  Some  of  us  have  at  last 
learned  that  happiness  of  self  includes  the  happiness  of 
others,  and  that  our  conscious  efforts,  guided  by  the 
highest  intelligence,  may  be  made  to  count  in  promo- 
ting this  progressive  march.  For  these  reasons  I  have 
concluded  to  contribute  my  infinitessimal  part  of  this 
conscious  work  of  progress  by  outlining,  in  these  printed 
pages,  a  social  and  economic  system  from  which,  I  be- 
lieve, our  existing  evils  are  eliminated;  and  to  still  fur- 
ther assist  in  this  labor,  I  compare  this  new  system  with 
our  present  one,  so  as  to  make  the  work  more  perspic- 
uous for  those  who  are  not  much  accustomed  to  think 
for  themselves.  I  also  name  and  describe  some  of  the 
successive  steps  of  progress  which  slowly  succeeded 
one  another. 

In  this  work  I  shall  further  endeavor  to  show  that 
social  and  economic  prosperity  and  harmony  can  be 
attained  only  in  a  system  which  recognizes  extensive 
voluntary  co-operation  as  its  fundamental  principle  of 
production  and  distribution,  and  which  concedes  to 
every  individual  the  right  to  do  as  he  wills,  provided  he 
does  not  infringe  the  equal  right  of  any  other  person; 
for  in  the  harmonious  and  intelligent  union  of  these 
two  factors  consists  the  solution  of  the  social  and 
economic  problem. 

I  am  well  aware  that  my  work  will  meet  with  strong 
opposition  from  my  timid  contemporaries.  I  am  aware 
that  they  will  endeavor  to  spread  the  alarm  that  this 
book  is  dangerous,  but  such  a  course  is  nothing  new 
and  nothing  strange.  Persons  whose  hearts  are  cold 
and  full  of  iniquity  have  never  been  able  to  see  and 
feel  beyond  the  very  limited  sphere  of  their  own  activ- 


PREFACE.  7 

ity  They  measure  all  other  people  by  their  own  crude 
and  wicked  intentions.  Cruelty  and  blind  zeal  have 
always  led  such  persons  on  unwise  paths.  Countless 
examples  may  be  cited  in  support  of  this  proposition. 

Socrates  was  accused  of  corrupting  the  youth,  and 
was,  therefore,  condemned  to  drink  the  poisonous  hem- 
lock. Jesus,  who  advocated  nobler  and  purer  princi- 
ples than  His  contemporaries,  was  crucified  by  them. 
Washington,  who  believed  in  a  republic  which  con- 
cedes a  little  more  individual  freedom  than  a  monarchy 
does,  was  branded  a  traitor  by  his  monarchical  con- 
temporaries. Garrison,  who  advocated  the  liberation 
of  chattel  slaves,  was  denounced  a  dangerous  dema- 
gogue. When  Luther  added  a  degree  of  personal  lib- 
erty to  the  inflexible  creed  of  his  time,  all  Christendom 
branded  him  a  heretic;  a  subverter  of  human  well-be- 
ing. Haeckel,  Huxley,  Spencer,  Darwin,  Buckel,  Pen- 
tecost, Tucker  and  countless  others,  who  have  vastly 
enriched  the  storehouse  of  human  knowledge  by  their 
genius  and  industry,  have  all,  in  their  turn,  been  cal- 
umniated and  denounced  by  persons  who  have,  perhaps, 
never  read  a  line  of  what  these  leading  men  have  writ- 
ten. 

I  do  not  make  these  remarks  concerning  criticism 
on  the  ground  that  I  fear  that  my  work  will  not  bear 
analysis  and  examination;  but,  on  the  contrary,  I  kindly 
invite  the  keenest  critics  to  subject  the  contents  of  it 
to  the  closest  scrutiny.  I  am  keenly  conscious  that 
this  book,  like  all  others  that  have  ever  been  written, 
contains  errors  and  shortcomings.  To  assert  the  con- 
trary implies  perfection,  and  no  person  who  is  ordi- 
narily well-informed  will  claim  to  be  perfect  or  infalli- 
ble; but  I  can  afford  to  invite  criticism,  for  I  shall  be 


8  PREFACE. 

as  much  interested  in  having  my  errors  and  shortcom- 
ings pointed  out  as  my  critics  are,  for  I  have  no  creed, 
no  party  and  no  organization  to  defend,  but  am  merely 
searching  for  truth,  and  truth  needs  no  other  defense 
than  that  of  discovering  it. 

Now  let  me  state  right  here  that  I  do  not  wish  to 
be  understood  that  the  masses,  who  are  now  living,  are 
suited,  as  they  are  at  present  constituted,  to  enjoy  and 
become  members  of  a  social  and  economic  system  as 
pure,  high  and  noble  as  the  one  rudely  outlined  in  this 
work;  but  the  aim  of  this  work  is  to^/that  vast  multi- 
tude who  are  still  tuifit  for  it  by  having  them  mentally 
assimilate  some  of  the  facts  expressed  and  suggested 
in  it,  for  let  us  not  forget  that  man-made  institutions 
are,  as  a  whole,  always  nearly  suited  to  the  mental  ca- 
pacity of  the  masses,  A  comparison  of  the  minds  and 
institutions  of  the  savage  with  those  of  the  more  de- 
veloped will  substantiate  this  great  principle.  Im- 
prove the  mind  by  unfolding  it,  and  the  human-made 
institutions  will  improve  to  correspond. 

Let  me  here  advise  the  reader  not  to  omit  any  chap- 
ter or  read  them  in  any  other  order  than  the  one  given 
in  the  book.  It  is  not  a  fact,  as  many  believe,  that  a 
single  topic  can  be  successfully  learned  or  discussed 
without  having  it  closely  connected  with  others.  For 
examples,  a  change  in  a  locomotive  implies  or  pro- 
duces a  change  in  the  roadbed,  in  commerce,  in  speed, 
in  mercantile  business.  A  change  in  the  land  tenure 
and  in  the  medium  of  exchange  produces  correspond- 
ing changes  in  all  other  human  institutions  and  conduct; 
if  not,  one  land  tenure  and  medium  of  exchange  would 
be  as  good  as  another.  A  change  in  sex-relations  is 
accompanied  with  a  corresponding  change  in  dress, 


IPREFACE.  9 

food,  dwellings,  education,  modes  of  travel,  amuse- 
ments, individual  freedom,  in  the  manner  of  rearing 
offspring,  and  in  countless  other  ways.  A  system,  in 
order  to  be  natural  and  harmonious,  must  be  a  con- 
nected whole.  Hence  we  can  see  at  once  that  the  very 
act  of  endeavoring  to  learn  or  discuss  a  single  topic 
unconnected  with  others  is  a  sign  of  mental  incom- 
pleteness. 

With  these  prefatory  remarks,  I  humbly  submit  the 
following  pages  to  the  thoughtful  consideration  and 
impartial  judgment  of  a  continuously  progressing  in- 
dividual. 

H'oLSTEiN,  la.,  March,  1892. 

Henry  Olerich. 


INDKX 


Chapter 

I. 

Chapter 

II. 

Chapter 

III. 

Chapter 

IV. 

Chapter 

V. 

Chapter 

VI. 

Chapter 

VII. 

Chapter 

VIII. 

Chapter 

IX. 

Chapter 

X. 

Chapter 

XI. 

Chapter 

XII. 

Chapter 

XIII. 

Chapter 

XIV. 

Chapter 

XV. 

Chapter 

XVI. 

Chapter 

XVII. 

Chapter  XVIII, 

Chapter  XIX. 

Chapter  XX. 
Chapter  XXI. 
Chapter  XXII. 
Chapter  XXIII. 


PAGE. 

Character,  Description   and  Locality 13 

Midith's    Arrival.       His    opinion    of   our 

Earth 25 

The    Marsian   Theory   of    Creation   and 

Formation 40 

Marsian  Home  and  Family : .  .  51 

Wealth 68 

Labor 74 

Interior  of  "Big-house" 80 

Interior  of  "Big-house"  (Continued) 90 

Happiness  and  Truth 101 

Exterior  of  "Big-house" 114 

Exterior  of  "Big-house"  (Concluded) 126 

Commercial  and  Mercantile  Systems 151 

Money,  or  Medium  of  Exchange 170 

Some  connections  between  Wealth,  Labor, 

Commerce,    Intercommunication,   and 

a  Medium  of  Exchange 215 

Ownership  of  Land 230 

Government 240 

Sex  Relations 261 

Comparison  of  Our  Sex    Relations    with 

Yours 273 

Comparison    of  Our  Sex    Relations  with 

Yours  (Continued) 289 

Sex  Relations  (Concluded) 297 

Education B12 

Education — The  Different  Branches 326 

Education — How  to  Teach  the  Different 

Branches,  and  a  Critical  Comparison. .  342 
10 


INDEX. 


II 


Chapter  XXIV.  How  the  Transition  from  the  Old  to  the 
New  Order  of  Things  was  Accom- 
plished    388 

Chapter  XXV.  How  the  Transition  from  the  Old  to  the 
New  Order  of  Things  was  Accom- 
plished (Continued) , 412 

Chapter  XXVI.     Favorable  News 430 


DIAQRANIS. 


PAGE. 

Ground  Plan  of  a  "Big-house" 52 

Wing  of  a  "Big-house,"  showing  Private  Apartments 55 

Diagram,  showing  Communities,  Motor-Lines,  Railroads,  etc.  57 
Diagram,    showing    Sectional  View  of    Parks,    Boulevards, 

Walks,  Garden,  Orchard,  etc GO 

Diagram,    showing  Location    of    "Big-houses,"    Warehouse, 

Factories,  etc 58 

Diagram,   showing  Enlarged  Sectional  View  of  Community, 

with  Four  "Big-houses,"  etc 115 

Diagram  of  Electric  Carriage 132 

Diagram  of  a  Marsian  Money-bill 175 


12 


CHAPTER  I. 

CHARACTER,  DESCRIPTION  AND  LOCALITIES. 

IT  is  in  the  pleasant  little  village  of  Dozen  where  Mr. 
Uwins  and  family  live.  Mr.  Uwins  is  a  philosopher 
by  nature,  and  an  author,  over  an  assumed  name,  by 
profession.  The  family  at  present  consists  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Uwins;  Miss  Viola,  a  daughter  of  eighteen;  Ro- 
land, a  son  of  fourteen;  Celestine,  a  daughter  of  six; 
and  Rev,  Dudley,  a  brother  of  Mrs.  Uwins,  who  is 
spending  the  summer  with  them. 

Mr.  Uwins  is  a  handsome,  well-proportioned  man 
of  middle  age.  He  is  about  six  feet  tall,  weighing 
about  i8o  pounds.  His  clothes  are  not  expensive,  but 
always  scrupulously  clean  and  tidy.  His  appearance 
is  decidedly  prepossessing  and  lasting  toward  man, 
woman  and  child.  He  nearly  always  wears  a  pleasing 
countenance,  is  modest,  kind,  just  and  highly  sociable. 
He  is  an  untimid,  original  thinker,  searching  for  truth 
in  all  direction.  His  clear,  sincere,  lucid  and  forcible 
style  of  expression  makes  him  a  charming  conversa- 
tionalist, admired  by  all  who  know  him. 

Mrs.  Uwins  is  a  little  above  the  medium  size,  erect 
and  well-proportioned.  She  is  a  few  years  younger 
than  her  husband,  and  is  almost  as  handsome  and 
tasty  now  as  she  was  at  sixteen.  She  walks  with  a 
quick,  elastic  step;  is  orderly,  skilled  and  ready  in  her 
domestic  and  other  walks  of  life.     Always  kind,  and 

13 


14  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

never  loses  control  of  her  temper.  Revenge  and  jeal- 
ousy have  no  place  in  her  heart.  She  is  cheerful,  even 
under  adversity.  She  teaches  her  children  to  be  in- 
dependent, kind,  just  and  industrious,  and  never 
governs  by  force.  The  faculty  of  teaching  her  children 
to  do  their  respective  parts,  their  share  of  the  work 
without  a  command,  is  highly  developed  in  her.  She 
is  an  acute  thinker,  a  good  writer,  a  pleasing  conversa- 
tionalist, an  accomplished  player,  and  a  sweet  singer. 
The  social  and  industrial  problem  has  been  boldly  and 
fearlessly  investigated  by  her,  particularly  in  the  direc- 
tion of  her  own  sex.  Take  her  in  all,  she  is  a  model 
woman  of  our  present  age. 

Rev.  Dudley  is  an  orthodox  minister,  spending  the 
present  summer,  on  account  of  his  health,  with  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Uwins.  Rev.  Dudley  is  a  man  of  ordinary 
intellectual  ability,  and  he  is  not  enjoying  the  most 
robust  health.  The  brother  and  sister  are  very  unlike 
in  thought  and  belief.  The  brother  was  educated  in  a 
tlicological  seminary;  the  sister,  by  an  extensive  course 
of  miscellaneous  reading  and  by  an  indefatigable  study 
of  Nature  by  which  the  Architect  of  the  universe  is  yet 
building  worlds,  suns  and  solar  systems. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Uwins'  children  all  enjoy  excellent 
health;  are  handsome,  kind,  industrious,  affectionate, 
well  educated,  and  highly  cultivated.  Viola  is  a  charm- 
ing young  woman  with  unusual  mental  powers  and 
personal  charms.  She  possesses  all  her  mother's  good 
characteristics.  The  laws  of  health  and  freedom  seem 
to  be  her  guide.  She  teaches  music  with  great  success. 
Her  pupils  all  love  her.  Sorrow  and  melancholy  dis- 
appear before  her  presence.  She  is  always  ready  and 
willing  to  do  her  share  of  the  domestic  labor.     She  is 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  1 5 

the  belle  of  the  village  and  has  the  choice  of  all  its 
suitors. 

Roland  is  an  obliging  youth,  full  of  life  and  a  keen 
observer  of  nature.  Celestine  is  overflowing  with 
activity.  It  seems  as  if  nature  is  endeavoring  to  see 
how  much  she  can  do  with  a  child,  living  in  a  some- 
what favorable  social  atmosphere.  They  all  seem  to 
have  inherited  the  noble  traits  of  their  parents  physic- 
ally and  mentally.  The  parental  natures  seem  to  be 
deeply  grafted  in  their  very  constitutions;  we  find  no 
social  discord,  no  commander  and  no  obeyer.  All  seem 
to  know  their  part  and  act  from  motives  of  their  own 
conviction  of  right  and  wrong. 

The  beautiful  little  village  of  Dozen,  in  which  Mr. 
Uwins  resides,  is  located  in  the  most  healthful  portion 
of  the  fertile  Mississippi  valley.  The  |Climate  is  mild 
and  delightful  during  nearly  the  whole  year.  In  this 
village  Mr.  Uwins  has  erected  his  neat,  comfortable, 
two-story  residence,  in  which  he  pursues  his  philoso- 
phizing and  literary  work.  In  this  residence  Mr. 
Uwins  and  family  seem  to  enjoy  more  happiness  and 
harmony  than  any  other  family  I  have  ever  before 
seen.  All  rule  and  none  obey.  All  is  cleanliness, 
order,  affection  and  happiness.  The  courtesies,  smiles 
and  continuous  sunshine  of  the  whole  family  make 
this  home  more  nearly  a  heaven  than  any  other  place 
I  have  ever  experienced  on  earth.  The  cat  and  the 
dog,  the  fowl  and  the  rabbit,  the  bird  and  the  babe, 
the  stranger  and  the  beau  are  treated  with  equal  kind- 
ness and  courtesy.  Such  is  the  bliss  of  its  inmates,  of 
both  man  and  beast. 

While  I  was  collecting  materia  for  a  biographical 
publication,   it   was   my   good   fortune   to   make    the 


l6  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

acquaintance  of  Mr.  Uvvins  and  his  happy  family,  with 
whom  I  received  the  permission  to  make  my  home 
while  I  was  collecting,  in  that  vicinity,  the  biogra- 
phical material  for  which  I  was  in  search. 

The  Uwins  family  were  not  in  the  habit  of  keeping 
strangers,  but  the  cordial  treatment,  the  modest,  pleas- 
ing, scholarly  answers  which  Mr.  Uwins  gave  to  my 
biographical  questions,  and  the  easy  conduct  and 
familiarity  of  Mrs.  Uwins  and  all  theirchildren,  made  me 
persist  in  becoming  a  member  of  the  family  during  my 
stay  at  Dozen.  I  can  say  without  exaggeration  that  the 
lesson  I  have  learned  in  Mr.  Uwins'  home  can  not  be 
learned  at  the  present  day  in  any  college  or  institution 
of  learning  in  the  world.  The  lesson  how  to  make 
ourselves  and  others  happy  underlies  all  other  knowl- 
edge and  learning;  and  all  the  members  of  the  Uwins 
family  taught — by  their  words  and  acts — this  great 
lesson  more  conspicuously  and  more  uninterruptedly 
than  I  had  ever  heard  or  seen  it  taught  before. 

When  Mr.  Uwins'  family  and  myself  were  enjoying 
the  blessings  of  a  well-supplied,  cheerful  home,  about 
five  o'clock  one  June  evening,  immediately  before  the 
beginning  of  a  heavy  rain,  which  continued  uninter- 
ruptedly until  the  next  morning,  a  stranger  of  extra- 
ordinary physique  knocked  at  the  open  door.  Mr. 
Uwins  rose  and  asked  him  in.  The  stranger  introduced 
himself  as  Midith.  "I  am  engaged  in  canvassing  Mr. 
Herbert  Spencer's  'Synthetic  Philosophy,'  "  he  said  as 
he  sat  down  on  the  chair  offered  him  by  Mr.  Uwins." 

"We  have  Mr.  Spencer's  works  in  our  library,  and 
have  studied  them  diligently  for  years,"  said  Mr.  Uwins, 
"but  we  are,  nevertheless,  pleased  to  meet  you,  and 


-    PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM,  I7 

extend  our  hospitality  toward  one  who  endeavors  to 
disseminate  useful  knowledge." 

Just  at  the  time  when  Mr.  Midith  entered  the  parlor, 
I  was  taking  some  notes  at  the  further  end  of  the 
apartment.  Mr.  Uwins  introduced  Mr.  Midith  to  all 
the  members  of  his  family,  and  then,  turning  to  me, 
introduced  me  as  Thomas  Fulton. 

"Mr.  Fulton,"  continued  Mr.  Uwins,  "is  a  stenogra- 
pher, and  is  collecting  material  for  a  new  kind  of  bio- 
graphical publication.  If  you  have  a  strange  history 
to  relate,"  said  Mr.  Uwins,  with  a  smile,  "then  Mr. 
Fulton  is  your  man." 

"I  am  sure  Mr.  Fulton  has  chosen  a  very  instructive 
occupation,"  rejoined  Mr.  Midith. 

"It  is  already  beginning  to  rain,  and  you  might  just 
as  well  make  up  your  mind  to  remain  with  us  for  the 
night,"  said  Mr.  Uwins  to  Mr.  Midith. 

"I  shall,  indeed,  be  ever  so  much  pleased  to  accept 
your  kind  invitation,  if  I  shall  not  be  too  much  trouble 
to  you  and  the  ladies,"  said  Mr.  Midith,  with  an  appar- 
ent air  of  satisfaction. 

"You  are  entirely  welcome,  Mr.  Midith,"  said  Mrs. 
Uwins,  pleasantly;  "try  to  make  yourself  at  home.  We 
have  little  formality  to  offer.  We  believe  more  in 
freedom  and  the  spontaneous  activity  of  nature  than 
we  do  in  constrained  fashion." 

Mr.  Midith  apparently  enjoys  the  highest  state  of 
health.  He  is  about  six  feet  tall,  weighing  about  185 
pounds,  erect,  a  model  of  symmetry,  a  handsome  face 
and  a  graceful  form,  a  full  beard  and  mustache,  beauti- 
ful bright  eyes,  a  well-proportioned  nose,  a  massive 
forehead,  a  gentle,  easy,  prepossessing  manner.  His 
% 


l8  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

complexion  is  dark,  lii^hted  up  with  an  obliging,  com- 
placent countenance,  always  wearing  a  smile  which 
seems  to  have  been  stamped  deeply  into  his  very  con- 
stitution by  the  kindness  of  himself  and  his  ancestors. 
His  presence  seems  to  be  always  highly  agreeable.  He 
knows  of  no  frown.  Time  has  cut  no  furrows  of  care 
and  anxiety  in  his  brow;.  His  general  appearance  and 
his  soft,  pleasing,  affable  conversational  powers  seem 
to  transform  sorrow  into  joy.  Arrogance,  revenge  and 
jealousy  have  apparently  been  banished  from  his  heart 
by  the  operation  of  his  powerful  intellect.  His  whole 
structure  and  bearing  seem  to  have  been  modeled  by 
truth  and  harmony.  Discord,  arrogance  and  rudeness 
seem  to  have  long  been  crowded  out  by  higher  and 
nobler  traits. 

The  style  of  his  costume  was  such  that  comfort  is 
considered  the  first  requisite,  and  adornment  next. 
His  clothes  are  scrupulously  neat,  clean  and  tidy. 
Health  to  him  seems  to  be  far-  more  precious  than 
fashion  and  conventionality.  Experience  seems  to  have 
taught  him  that,  where  a  law  of  health  and  a  law  of 
fashion  qonflict,  the  law  of  fashion  should  be  disre- 
garded. He  apparently  has  acted  all  through  life, 
and  perhaps  his  ancestors  before  him,  that  physical 
structure  and  mental  attainments  are  far  more 
precious  than  adornments  of  silks,  gold  and  diamonds. 
My  profession  has  naturally  thrown  me  in  contact 
with  a  large  number  of  individuals  of  the  human  race 
in  various  parts  of  the  civilized  world,  but  I  must  con- 
fess that  I  have  never  before  met  an  individual  in  whom 
there  appears  to  be  so  many  good  and  noble  character- 
istics united  in  one  person  than  there  appear  to  be  in 
Mr.  Midith.     I  think  he  is  as  nearly  a  model  of  human 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  IQ 

perfection  as  the  world  will  probably  ever  be  capable 
of  producing. 

I  noticed  that  the  whole  family  were  completely 
captivated  by  Mr.  Midith's  charming,  prepossessing 
appearance.  Viola,  in  particular,  seemed  to  be  spell- 
bound for  thetime  being.  Her  rosy  cheeks  were  redder 
than  usual;  but  she  soon  recovered  her  usual  affable- 
ness  toward  Mr.  Midith,  as  well  as  toward  all  the  rest 
of  the  company.  Celestine  was  already  leaning  against 
his  knee,  with  his  hand  resting  on  her  shoulder;  while 
Roland  was  continually  edging  nearer  to  him. 

The  rain  had  been  pouring  down  for  nearly  an  hour 
since  Mr.  Midith  entered  the  house  and  became  a 
member  of  this  happy  family.  It  is  six  o'clock,  and 
Mrs.  Uwins  announces  tea.  The  table,  as  always,  is 
neatly  set  and  tastily  arranged.  The  cooking  is  excel- 
lent. While  we  were  at  the  table,  as  well  as  after  the 
meal,  the  conversation  grew  more  and  more  interesting. 
The  confidence  of  one  another  seemed  to  be  strength- 
ened by  every  additional  word.  The  scientific,  social, 
industrial  and  domestic  problems  were  ably  handled. 
Mr.  Midith  displayed,  in  an  unassuming  manner,  such 
a  vast  amount  of  information  that  he  almost  held  all 
of  us  spellbound.  His  perspicuous,  sincere  utterances 
brought  a  deep  conviction  to  his  hearers.  It  seemed, 
at  times,  that  he  was  endowed  with  superhuman  power 
of  expression;  but  his  attention  to  others  was  just  as 
perfect  and  pleasing  as  his  conversational  abilities. 

When,  after  tea,  we  were  all  seated  in  the  cosy  par- 
lor, Mr.  Midith  remarked  that  his  present  surround- 
ings appeared  more  homelike  to  him  than  any  other 
home  he  had  ever  before  enjoyed  on  tliis  earth. 


20  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"On  this  earth,"  repeated  Viola.  "Have  you  ever 
been  on  any  (7//!rr  earth  than  this  one,  Mr.  Midith?" 

"You  were,  before  supper,  talking  about  strange 
histories,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "I  am  quite  sure  that  my 
history  would  seem  very  strange  to  you.  Yes,  in  fact, 
it  would  no  doubt  at  first  seem  incredible  to  you.  But 
the  strangeness  and  incredibility  do  not  alter  the  facts 
in  the  case.  My  history  is  a  romance  in  which  every 
event  is  a  reality,"  said  Mr.  Midith. 

"I  am  sure,  Mr.  Midith,"  said  Mrs.  Uwins,  "that  we 
would  be  highly  interested  in  your  history,  and  noth- 
ing would  please  us  better  just  now  than  to  listen  to 
you." 

"Allow  me  to  tell  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  said 
Mr.  Midith  unassumingly,  "that  I  have  never  before 
given  my  history  to  any  one.  But  as  I  have  always 
intended  to  make  it  known  to  the  mundane  (belonging 
to  the  world,  earthly)  inhabitants  when  a  favorable 
opportunity  would  present  itself,  after  having  thor- 
oughly acquainted  myself  with  your  social  and  indus- 
trial institutions,  and  as  this  is  by  far  the  most  favor- 
able one  I  have  so  far  had,  I  shall  be  pleased  to  comply 
with  your  request." 

We  unanimously  requested  Mr.  Midith  to  proceed 
with  his  narrative,  which  he  did  as  follows: 

"It  will  doubtless  seem  incredible,  perhaps  almost 
miraculous,  to  you  at  this  stage  of  mundane  develop- 
ment, when  I  tell  you  that  I  was  not  born  and  reared 
on  tl lis  planet.  But  let  not  this  deter  you.  Events  that 
seem  incredible,  incomprehensible  and  impossible  in 
one  age,  often  become  credible,  comprehensible  and 
possible  in  a  succeeding  age.  To  a  savage  it  seems 
impossible  to  project  a  2,000-pound  cannon  ball  as  far 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  21 

as  you  actually  do  project  it.  To  the  contemporaries 
of  Columbus,  our  modern  steamer,  which  crosses  the 
Atlantic  in  about  five  days,  seemed  no  doubt  incredible. 
Telegraphy  seemed  impossible  to  Washington  and  his 
contemporaries;  so  did  a  sixty-mile-an-hour  train.  But 
7ve  all  find  them  perfectly  natural  and  practicable  in 
this  age.  We  have  divested  them  of  all  mystery,  and 
have  put  them  under  the  dominion  of  an  inexorable 
law,  whose  operation  our  ancestors  did  not  understand. 
It  would  be  highly  presumptuous  on  our  part  to  assume 
that  we  know  all  what  can  be  known:  that  all  what 
seems  to  be  impossible  to  us  now  must  forever  remain 
impossible  to  our  posterity. 

"You,  no  doubt,  are  all  familiar  with  Mr.  Spencer's 
maxim,  'Not  directly,  but  by  successive  approxima- 
tions do  mankind  arrive  at  correct  conclusions.' 

"I  fear  that  I  shall  be  taxing  your  credulity  se- 
verely by  giving  you  my  truthful  history,  but,  with 
the  foregoing  facts  in  our  minds,  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  listen  to  the  claims  of  any  person  who 
does  not  enter  wholly  into  the  field  of  inconceiva- 
bility. History  proves  that  the  persons  who  have  been 
willing  to  listen  fairly  to  the  claims  of  others,  even  if 
they  appeared  impossible  at  the  time,  keeping  what 
they  believed  to  be  good  and  rejecting  what  they  be- 
lieve to  be  wrong,  have  by  far  been  the  noblest  and  the 
most  useful  to  mankind;  to  them  is  due  the  progress 
of  the  world." 

"All  that  you  have  said  is  true,"  said  Mr.  Uwins, 
"and  I  am  sure  we  can  not  fail  to  give  you  the  most 
interesting  hearing." 

"I  was  born  on  the  planet  Mars,  about  fifty  years 
ago,"  continued  Mr.  Midith. 


22  PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"Born  on  the  planet  IMars!"  I  exclaimed  with  aston- 
ishment. "You  have,  indeed,  a  strange  history,  then." 
"From  astronomical  studies,"  continued  Mr.  Midith, 
"  you  have  learned  that  a  Marsian  day  is  about  38  min- 
utes longer  than  your  day  here  on  earth.  The  Marsi- 
an year  is  687  of  your  days  instead  of  365)4^  days.  The 
diameter  of  Mars  is  about  5,000  miles,  while  that  of  the 
earth  is  nearly  8,000  miles.  The  heat  and  light  of  Mars 
is,  of  course,  not  so  intense  as  that  of  the  earth,  be- 
cause Mars  is  about  34  million  miles  farther  from  the 
sun  than  the  earth;  and  because  heat  and  light  de- 
crease in  intensity  as  the  square  of  the  distance  in- 
creases. 

"The  earth  has  one  moon,  and  Mars  has  two.  The 
smallest  one  is  about  six  miles  in  diameter.  It  is  the 
smallest  heavenly  body  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 
The  nearest  of  Mars'  moons  is  less  than  4,000  miles 
from  the  surface  of  Mars.  The  nearness  of  this  moon 
to  Mars  I  would  like  to  have  you  keep  in  mind,  for  my 
presence  on  earth  is  indirectly  connected  with  this 
phenomenon,  which  I  will  soon  tell  you. 

"We  must  bear  in  mind  that  one  year  on  Mars  is 
nearly  two  years  on  earth.  A  person  living  eighty 
years  on  Mars  lives  about  double  the  number  of  hours 
that  a  person  who  lives  eighty  years  on  earth  does. 

"According  to  your  'nebular  hypothesis,'  which  is 
true  according  to  our  astronomical  knowledge  Mars 
was  detached  from  the  sun  ages  before  the  earth  was 
born;  for  Mars  is  farther  from  the  sun — is  located  out- 
side of  the  earth's  orbit.  Mars  is  also  much  smaller 
and  less  dense  than  the  earth,  in  consequence  of  which 
it  cooled  much  longer  and  much  more  rapidly.  Mars, 
then,  is  much  older   astronomically  and    geologically. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  27, 

The  crust  of  Mars,  in  proportion  to  its  diameter,  is 
much  thicker  than  the  crust  of  the  earth.  ■  The  water 
area,  in  proportion  to  the  land  area,  is  much  smaller  on 
Mars  than  it  is  on  earth,  because  the  water  is  continu- 
ally being  absorbed  by  the  thickening  solid  crust.  We 
can  readily  see,  then,  that  according  to  these  data, 
other  things  being  equal,  Mars  must  have  an  older  and 
more  advanced  vegetable  and  animal  life.  The  Mar- 
sian  social  and  industrial  organizations  must  be  much 
more  perfect  than  yours. 

"On  account  of  the  difficult  dynamical  (pertaining 
to  strength  or  power)  principles  involved  in  my  inter- 
planetary navigation,  I  shall  for  the  present  defer  an 
explanation  of  my  journey.  It  will,  however,  I  think, 
not  be  out  of  place  here  to  suggest  that  the  force  of 
gravitation  between  two  bodies  is  in  proportion  to" 
their  mass  and  inversely  as  the  square  of  their  distance. 
The  earth  and  Mars,  when  nearest  together,  are  about 
34,000,000  miles  apart.  There  is  a  point,  then,  some- 
where between  them,  where  a  body  would  be  equally 
attracted  by  both,  would  neither  fall  to  the  earth  nor 
to  Mars.  But,  if  moved  a  little  toward  either  one, 
from  the  point  of  equilibrium,  it  would  fall  the  whole 
distance  toward  that  body  with  continuously  increasing 
velocity.  If  the  earth  and  Mars,  when  in  conjunction, 
were  only  a  mile  apart,  a  body  could  easily,  even  with 
your  present  knowledge  of  dynamics,  be  projected  out 
of  the  reach  of  gravitation  of  one  of  these  planets 
into  that  of  the  other.  The  actual  interplanetary  dis- 
tance, which  I  traversed  between  the  earth  and  Mars, 
calls  in  nothing  new  in  hjid,  but  only  in  degree.  So 
you  see  that  in  order  to  be  able  to  make  this  inter- 
planetary journey,  you  need  only  to  hnprove  on  what 


24  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

you  already  have;  and  time  has  given  the  inhabitants 
of  Mars,  on  this  point,  the  advantage  over  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  II. 

MIDITH's  arrival — HIS    IDEAS  OF  OUR  EARTH. 

"You  said,  Mr.  Midith,  that  you  were  born  on  Mars 
about  fifty  years  ago.  Do  you  mean  fifty  Marsian 
years,  or  fifty  of  our  years?"  asked  Viola. 

"I  mean  fifty  of  your  years,"  replied  Mr.  Midith. 

"How  long  have  you  lived  on  earth  then,  Mr. 
Midith?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"I  have  been  an  inhabitant  of  the  earth  a  little  over 
ten  years.  I  was  twenty  Marsian  years  old  when  I 
arrived  on  earth,  and  the  ten  years  I  have  lived  here 
makes  my  age  the  same  as  thirty  mundane  years.  You 
see  a  Marsian  year  to  a  Marsite  is  no  longer  than  your 
year  is  to  you.  Everything  on  Mars  corresponds  with 
its  length  of  year." 

"Did  the  increased  intensity  of  heat  and  light  affect 
you  much  when  you  first  landed  on  earth?"  asked  Mr. 
Uwins. 

"Yes  at  first  I  experienced  quite  a  discomfort;  but 
my  system  and  senses  soon  adjusted  themselves  to  the 
new  conditions  somewhat,  the  same  as  an  eye  adjusts 
itself  when  going  from  a  dark  to  a  brilliantly  lighted 
apartment.  The  temperature  gave  me  more  and  longer 
discomfort  than  the  light  did." 

"How  old  does  a  person  on  Mars  get  to  be,  Mr. 
Midith?"  asked  Roland,  as  he  was  edging  still  nearer  to 
Mr.  Midith. 

25 


26  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"A  person,  with  the  same  care  of  himself,  lives  as 
many  Marsian  years  on  Mars  as  you  live  earthly  years. 
But  as  society,  on  account  of  the  greater  age  of  Mars, 
has  advanced  much  further  than  it  has  on  earth,  people, 
as  they  continually  learn  by  experience,  live  more  in 
harmony  with  the  laws  of  life  and  health,  and  conse- 
quently they  get  much  older.  Many  Marsites  live  now 
to  be  over  150  years  and  are  still  in  vigorous  health," 
replied  Mr.  Midith. 

"Did  the  difference  in  the  atmospheric  pressure  and 
the  difference  in  the  intensity  of  gravitation  cause  you 
much  inconvenience,  Mr.  Midith?"  I  asked. 

"Not   very  much,"    replied    Mr.    Midith. 

"We  are  going  to  crowd  you  with  questions,"  said 
Viola  with  a  smile.  "I  was  going  to  ask  you  where 
you    landed  when  you  reached  the  earth." 

"Miss  Viola,  to  tell  you  the  truth  I  did  not  land  on 
a  very  pleasant  spot.  I  landed  in  the  Pacific  ocean, 
about  a  mile  from  the  western  shore  of  the  United 
States.  When  I  entered  the  dense  atmosphere,  very 
near  the  earth,  my  interplanetary  projectile  became  un- 
manageable and  out  of  repair.  This  landed  me  in  the 
Pacific.  But  the  Marsites  are  all  good  swimmers,  as  I 
shall  explain  to  you  hereafter,  and  so  I  swam  to  the 
nearest  shore." 

"Cpuld  you  speak  the  English  language  when  you 
landed  on  earth?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"No;  I  could  not.  I  could  understand  no  language 
that  I  heard  spoken  here.  There  are  a  few  words  in 
the  English  language  that  sound  similarly  to  our  words, 
but  they  signify  entirely  different  ideas  and  things.  I 
had  to  learn  every  word  of  your  language  that  I  now 
know." 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  2/ 

"Do  I  understand  you,  then,  Mr.  Midith,  that  you 
have  but  one  language  on  Mars?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"Yes;  we  have  but  one  language  now.  Ages  ago  we 
had  many,  just  like  you  have;  but  as  the  families,  the 
tribes  and  the  nations  coalesced  more  and  more,  and 
as  intercommunication  improved,  languages  became 
fewer  and  fewer  until  there  was  but  one  left.  The  sur- 
vival of  the  fittest  antiquated  all  but  one.  A  person 
can  now  go  all  over  Mars  and  speak  the  same  lan- 
guage." 

"How,  Mr.  Midith,  did  you  acquire  and  develop 
the  knowledge  which  enabled  you  to  visit  the  earth?"  I 
asked. 

"You  recollect  that  the  moons  of  Mars  are  very 
near  her  surface;  the  nearest  one  is  less  than  4,000 
miles  distant.  You  also  recollect  that  the  specific  grav- 
ity and  the  force  of  gravity  are  less  on  Mars  than  they 
are  on  earth.  Under  these  conditions,  a  body  can  be 
projected  with  less  force  from  the  surface  of  Mars  than 
it  can  be  projected  from  the  surface  of  the  earth.  So 
we  first  practiced  to  project  bodies  to  Mars'  moons, 
then  we  increased  the  power  of  our  projectile  and 
directed  it  to  the  earth,  which  is  our  nearest  older 
planet." 

"How  many  of  our  days  did  you  say,  Mr.  Midith, 
the  Marsian  year  contains?"  asked  Viola. 

"About  687  days,"  replied  Mr.  Midith. 

"That  is  a  long  year,"  said  Mr.  Uwins.  "A  person 
requires  a  great  deal  of  food  and  clothing  during  such 
a  long  year;  but  he  can  also  do  a  correspondingly  great 
amount  of  work.  Can  the  land,  under  those  conditions, 
support  as  dense  a  population  on  Mars  as  we  can 
here?" 


28  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"As  far  as  I  can  ascertain,"  replied  Mr.  Midith,  "a 
square  mile  of  land  on  Mars,  under  the  same  degree  of 
civilization,  can  suj^port  just  as  many  persons  as  a 
square  mile  on  earth  can  support.  The  amount  of 
nutriment,  the  productiveness  of  the  soil,  the  durability 
of  things,  the  longevity,  and  the  labor  expended  in 
producing  them,  are  related  in  exactly  the  same  pro- 
portion as  we  find  them  here  on  earth.  The  year  is 
longer,  the  food  more  nutritious,  the  clothing  and 
other  things  more  lasting,  the  soil  more  fertile,  and 
more  time  for  growth  and  cultivation  during  the  long 
Marsian  year;  so  that  an  acre  of  land  can  support  as 
much  and  no  more  life  during  the  same  geologic  age 
than  the  earth  can.  These  facts  we  always  want 
to  bear  in  mind  when  we  speak  hereafter  of  the  social 
and  industrial  problems  of  Mars." 

"Is  it  not  a  grand,  imposing  sight  for  a  Marsite  to 
behold  the  swiftly  moving  little  moons  revolve  around 
Mars  so  rapidly  that  the  inner  one,  called  by  our 
astronomers,  Phobus,  completes  its  orbital  revolution  in 
seven  hours  and  thirty-eight  minutes,  and  appears  to 
rise  in  the  West  instead  of  the  EastT  exclaimed  Mr. 
Uwins. 

"Yes,  it  is  indeed  a  grand  sight  to  see  the  one  some- 
times rise  in  the  East  and  the  other  in  the  West,  and  yet 
both  revolve  around  Mars  in  the  same  direction  as 
your  moon  revolves  around  the  earth." 

"Where  is  your  'planetary  projectile'  on  which  you 
came  here  to  our  earth,  Mr.  Midith?"  asked  Roland 
with  an  air  of  apparent  inquiry. 

"It  lies  buried  somewhere  in  the  great  Pacific,  Ro- 
land," replied  Mr.  Midith,  with  a  suppressed  sigh.  "It  was 
swallowed  up  by  the  vast  expanse  of  the  deep,  when  I 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  2g 

landed  on  earth  about  ten  years  ago,  and  I  had  to  swim 
for  life.  It  frightens  me  still  when  I  think  of  that 
dreadful  event." 

"Mrs.  Uwins,  you  told  me,  time  and  again,  that  you 
do  not  believe  in  miracles,"  said  Rev.  Dudley  to  his 
sister.  "What,  then,  do  you  call  Mr.  Midith's  visit  on 
earth?  Do  you  call  that  miraculous?  Have  I  not 
often  told  you,  dear  sister,  that  God  in  His  infinite 
power  is  as  capable  of  working  a  miracle  now  as  He 
was  in  ancient  times?" 

"I  do  not  call  that  a  miracle  at  all,  James.  I  am 
sure  that  if  we  understood  the  dynamics  by  virtue  of 
which  Mr.  Midith  was  enabled  to  make  his  visit,  we 
would  no  more  call  it  a  miracle  than  we  call  the  flying 
of  a  kite,  or  the  running  of  a  locomotive,  a  miracle.  Is 
not  that  so,  Mr.  Midith?" 

"Yes,  Mrs.  Uwins,  you  are  right;  there  is  no  miracie 
whatever  about  my  mundane  visit.  It  was  all  accom- 
plished by  the  aid  of  immutable  laws  which  undoubtedly 
hold  good  alike  on  the  nearest  and  the-remotest  stars 
of  the  universe.  We  want  to  keep  in  mind  that  the 
miraculous  always  disappears  just  in  proportion  as  we 
discover  the  natural  laws  that  operate  the  phenomena 
of  nature." 

"But,  Mr.  Midith,  is  not  the  interplanetary  space  be- 
yond the  planets'  atmospheres  a  vacuum?"  asked  Viola. 
"How  could  you  live  and  breathe  in  a  vacuum?  We 
are  taught  by  our  philosophers  that  all  interstellar  space 
is  filled  with  an  imponderable  ( without  sensible  weight), 
highly  attenuated  (made  thin)  medium  called  ether. 
But  we  are  not  aware  that  it  will  support  life.  How  is 
that,  Mr.  Midith?" 

"As  I   have  said  before,  Viola,  I  should  prefer  to 


30  I'KACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

give  you  this  difficult  explanation  after  you  get  better 
acquainted  with  our  enterprises.  After  you  have 
learned  more  about  our  mechanical  genius,  our  social 
and  industrial  problems.  It  will  be  much  more  easily 
understood  by  you  then,  than  it  would  be  now." 

"All  right,  Mr.  Midith,  just  as  you  think  best,"  said 
Viola  with  a  pleasant  countenance.  "If  we  ask  you 
questions  out  of  the  natural  order  just  let  us  know." 

"Did  our  earth  seem  homelike  to  you,  Mr.  Midith, 
when  you  first  looked  around  and  as  you  gradually 
became  better  acquainted?"  I  asked. 

"Let  me  tell  you  right  here,  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
in  answering  this  question  truthfully,  I  may  say  things 
that  may  not  be  very  agreeable  to  some  of  you.  But 
I  believe  that  nearly  all  of  you  are  searching  for  truth 
regardless  of  consequences;  and  whenever  one  has  ar- 
rived at  such  a  stage  of  intellectual  development,  he 
is  at  least  willing  to  give  truth  a  fair  hearing,  whether 
it  is  for  the  time  being  pleasant  or  unpleasant." 

"You  see  L  have  not  been  educated  under  any  of 
your  habits,  customs,  practices  and  prejudices.  It  is 
therefore  very  likely  that  I  see  things  and  acts  which 
appear  cruel,  wrong,  superstitious,  and  even  barbarous 
to  me,  which  seem  all  right,  kind  and  humane  to  you, 
because  you  have  been  educated  and  raised  to  them, 
and  have,  therefore,  perhaps  never  given  them  a  fair 
impartial  thought,  a  thorough  analysis." 

"When  I  first  looked  around,  and  as  I  gradually  ac- 
quired more  and  more  information  about  terrestrial  af- 
fairs, some  things  seemed  perfectly  familiar.  The  land 
and  the  water,  the  hills  and  the  valleys,  light  and  dark- 
ness, heat  and  cold,  growth  and  decay,  hunger  and 
thirst,  pleasure  and  pain,  all  seemed  to  be  familiar  to 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  3 1 

me.  Water  sought  its  level.  The  green  grass  covered  the 
earth  and  was  kissed  by  the  dewdrop  and  the  rain;  the 
lofty  trees  were  dressed  in  verdant  foliage  and  spread 
their  boughs  toward  heaven;  the  gentle  breeze  raised 
the  little  ripples  on  the  bosom  of  the  lake,  and  sported 
with  the  green  foliage  and  the  sere  leaf  the  same  here 
as  on  Mars. 

"The  flight  of  the  bird,  the  walking  of  the  beast, 
eating,  drinking,  breathing,  moving,  and  the  reproduc- 
tion of  organisms  were  nothing  new  to  me.  They 
were,  under  similar  conditions,  exactly  identical  with 
ours  on  Mars. 

"The  rain  and  the  snow,  the  thunder  and  lightning, 
the  changes  of  the  seasons,  the  germination  and  growth 
of  plants,  the  laws  that  govern  animal  and  vegetable 
life  are  the  same  here  as  they  are  in  my  native  world, 
and  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  they  are  differ- 
ent on  a  single  one  of  the  countless  heavenly  bodies  of 
the  universe. 

"Mars  produces  coal,  iron,  natural  gas,  and  the  other 
minerals  and  metals  in  the  same  abundance  and  pro- 
portion as  the  earth  does.  The  chemical  compounds 
are  composed  of  the  same  elements  and  in  the  same 
proportion.  The  water,  under  the  same  condition, 
turns  the  wheel  of  toil  and  drowns  the  innocent  babe 
there,  as  here. 

"In  fact,  I  find  no  difference  in  things,  and  in  the 
relations  of  things  here,  and  in  those  of  Mars,  except 
in  the  scientific,  social  and  industrial  worlds.  In  these 
fields,  however,  I  find  vast  differences;  differences  so 
great  and  so  grand  that  I  fear  I  shall  be  able  to  give 
you  but  a  faint  idea  of  them.  I  notice  in  your  current 
literature  and  political  economy  that  not  a  few  of  your 


32  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

foremost  and  well-meaning  economists  and  sociolo- 
gists have  endeavored  to  dream  out,  instead  of  work- 
ing out,  a  suitable  and  higher  order  of  things  for  the 
people  on  earth.  But  I  believe  that  I  can  safely  say 
that  the  reality  of  the  social  and  industrial  systems  of 
Mars  far  surpass  all  imaginary  Utopias  dreamed  of  by 
mundane  beings.  The  truth  of  our  world  in  these 
directions  exceeds  the  wildest  romance  that  was  ever 
penned  by  your  most  extravagant  novelists. 

"I  have  not  merely  dreamed  of  this  grand,  this 
noble,  this  happy  state  of  human  affairs,  but  I  have 
actually  enjoyed  them  for  twenty  long  INIarsian  years. 
I  have  seen  and  experienced  them  in  their  practical 
workings.  With  countless  others,  I  have  even  been 
a  tiny  link  in  the  endless  chain  of  development  and 
progress,  which  has  brought  us  to  that  high  state  of 
civilization  which  the  Marsites  now  enjoy. 

"  As  I  have  said  before,  everything  I  met  on  earth 
appeared  perfectly  natural  and  familiar  to  me  except 
the  scientific,  social  and  industrial  spheres.  It  seemed 
so  strange  to  me  when  I  first  arrived  on  earth  that 
about  half  of  your  population  desire  to  live  in  compar- 
atively filthy,  crowded,  smoky,  unhealthy  cities  and 
towns,  while  the  other  half  want  to  live  a  lonely,  toil- 
some, country  life,  deprived  of  nearly  all  the  blessings 
and  enjoyments  of  a  healthy  society;  and  it  seemed 
still  more  strange  to  me  that  you  believed  that  you 
could  not  get  along  without  the  cities  and  without  the 
country.  The  evils  and  Heedlessness  of  both  cities  and 
country  appeared  so  plain  to  me,  and  yet  you  are,  at 
the  present  age,  unable  to  see  the  bad  effects  of  them. 

"It  appeared  so  strange  to  me  that  each  small  fam- 
ily desired  to  live  in  a  small  home,  located  so  disorderly 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  33 

that  they  were  almost  completely  cut  off  from  any  con- 
venient intercommunication.  How  the  agriculturist,  or 
farmer,  fenced  his  little  patch  of  land,  which  he  worked 
single-handed  so  cruelly  and  toilsomely  with  a  draught 
animal — ox,  horse,  etc.,  which  require  almost  as  much 
food  and  care  as  they  can  earn.  How  poorly  the 
majority  of  the  little  homes  were  furnished.  What 
domestic  slaves  wives  and  children  are  when  the 
human  hand  must  do  the  work  of  machinery. 

"It  seemed  strange  to  me  why  only  so  few  can  dis- 
tinguish h&iwQ&n  productive,  unproductive  3iU.d  destructive 
labor.  Why  millions  upon  millions  of  men,  women 
and  children  are  toiling  early  and  late  and  are  produc- 
ing nothing.  Why  the  poor  laborer  could  not  see  that 
the  rich  parasite  appropriates  a  large  portion  of  the 
products  of  his  labor.  Why  thousands  upon  thousands 
of  frugal,  industrious  carpenters  have  been  building 
houses  all  their  lives  and  have  no  house  of  their  own 
to  live  in.  Why  a  large  number  of  shoemakers  have 
been  making  shoes  and  have  no  decent  shoe  to  put  on. 
Why  a  multitude  of  farmers  have  toiled  year  after 
year  and  are  now  even  farther  from  owning  the  land 
they  work  than  they  were  when  they  began  their  toil 
years  ago. 

"I  could  not  see  how  people  could  believe  that/^«^ 

is  wealth,  and  that  capital  should  be  entitled  to  part  of 

the  products.     Why  people  were  satisfied  with  such  poor 

walks,  muddy,  dusty  streets  and  roads,  slow,  irregular 

trains,  clumsy  vehicles  drawn  by  weary  animals,  such 

barren  gardens,  so  few  flowers,  and  yet  so  many  forced 

idlers.     Why   you   had   so   many   places  of  business, 

where  goods  are  spoiling,  and  so  few  customers  who 

have  the  means  to  buy  what  they  should  have.    Why 
3 


34  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

there  are,  in  certain  localities,  so  many  commodities 
decaying,  and  so  much  food  wasted  by  some^  while  so 
jnany  others  are  almost  starving.  Why  people  should 
be  willing  to  ^iiy  profit. 

"The  longer  I  live  on  earth  and  the  more  I  get 
around,  the  more  strange  and  perverted  your  social 
and  industrial  system  appears  to  me.  It  seems  so 
queer  to  me  to  see  every  one  go  to  the  postoffice, 
instead  of  having  the  postoffice  brought  to  everyone; 
to  have  every  one  run  to  the  depot,  instead  of  having  a 
depot  in  every  house. 

"It  seemed  so  strange  why  people  could  not  see  that 
the  money  you  use — gold,  silver,  etc. — cost  so  much 
comparatively  unproductive  labor  to  get  the  material 
out  of  which  you  make  the  money;  that  in  your  mone- 
tary system  there  exists  no  proportionate  relations 
between  the  amount  of  negotiable  wealth  on  hand  and 
the  amount  of  money  in  circulation;  there  may  be  an 
abundance  of  money  and  a  scarcity  of  commodities,  or 
there  may  be  an  abundance  of  commodities  and  a 
scarcity  of  money;  that  the  persons  who  really  make 
and  earn  the  commodities  receive  very  little  of  the 
money,  while  the  schemer  who  actually  makes  and 
earns  very  little  ot  the  commodities  receives,  as  a  rule, 
an  abundance  of  the  money. 

"It  seemed  so  very,  very  strange,  so  passing  strange 
to  me,  why  people  could  not  see  the  evil  effects  of 
owning  vacant  land  by  deed,  or  paper  title ;  why  people 
are  willing  to  pay  re7tt  or  buy  land;  why  individuals 
that  are  unable  to  govern  themselves  should  attempt 
to  govern  others;  why,  after  such  a  complete  failure, 
you  still  believe  in  a  government  by  physical  force ;  why 
the  vast  majority  believe  that  a  home  or  family  cannot 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  35 

exist  successfully  without  a  boss;  why  people  believe 
in  compulsory  taxation;  why  a  queen  or  president,  as 
such,  should  be  more  honored  than  a  miner  or  a  wash- 
erwoman. 

"It  seems  remarkably  strange  to  me  why  the  im- 
aginary being  called  the  State  should  in  any  way 
interfere  with  love  affairs;  why  a  man  or  a  woman  is 
willing  to  give  himself  or  herself  away  for  life  to  some 
one  else;  why  each  does  not  desire  to  own  herself  or 
himself  only;  why  a  woman  should  be  dependent  on  a 
man  financially;  why  women  should  not  enjoy  equal 
privileges  with  man  in  all  respects;  why  you  have  so 
many  unwelcome  children  and  unwilling  mothers;  why 
the  work  of  rearing  offspring  is  almost  exclusively 
thrust  off  onto  mothers;  why  mothers  are  not  com- 
pensated for  nursing  offspring  the  same  as  they  should 
be  for  other  productive  labor. 

"It  seems  so  strange  to  me  why  parents  are  forcing 
their  children  to  school  when  they  do  not  desire  to  go; 
why  a  child,  which  is  full  of  life  and  energy,  should  be 
compelled  to  sit  silently  and  quietly  for  six  hours  a 
day  in  a  school-room  when  activity  is  the  only  thing  that 
develops  body  and  mind;  why  a  child  should  be  bur- 
dened by  all  school  work,  and  an  adult  by  all  physical 
work;  why  a  child  should  not  receive  compensation 
immediately  for  all  the  productive  labor  it  performs; 
why  you  cannot  educate  in  a  pleasant  school  of  activity 
and  play;  why  you  do  not  have  suitable  play-grounds 
and  parks  near  every  home;  why  you  value  fashion  so 
highly  and  life  and  health  so  little;  why  you  wear  such 
uncomfortable  and  injurious  costumes;  why  it  does  not 
seem  so  repugnant  to  feast  on  a  carcass  than  on  a 
corpse;  why  you  always  hold  up  to  view  what  you  be;- 


36  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

lieve  to  be  good  and  say  nothing  about  pointing  out 
and  discouraging  the  bad;  why  you  honor  and  respect 
the  laborer  who  produces  the  wealth  of  the  world  so 
little,  and  the  idle,  wasteful  aristocrat  so  much;  why 
you  can  not  voluntarily  co-operate  under  individualism; 
how  you  can  belie\'e  that  your  'God'  wants  you  to 
build  and  erect  magnificent  churches,  and  steeples 
towering  toward  heaven,  when,  not  unfrequently  in  the 
very  shadow  of  them,  poverty  and  want  wreck  the  con- 
stitution of  his  highest  creatures.  Such  are  a  few  of 
the  many  things  here  that  seemed  and  still  seem  very 
strange  and  very  cruel  to  me." 

"Mr.  Midith,"  I  asked,  "why  did  you  not  make  your 
history  known  on  earth  before  this  time?" 

"I  will  tell  you,  Mr.  Fulton;  at  first  I  was  afraid  to 
say  anything  about  it.  Every  one  I  met  on  earth  ap- 
peared to  be  so  cruel  and  so  harsh,  that,  very  likely,  I 
was  as  much  frightened  among  you  as  you  would  be  if 
you  were  accidentally  dropped  among  your  American 
Indians  or  among  the  cannibals.  I  saw  the  idle  boy 
sportiv^ely  fling  stones,  with  apparent  delight,  at  the  joy- 
ful birds  that  were  singing  their  sweet  songs.  I  saw 
the  teamster  strike  his  beasts  of  burden  so  cruelly,  even 
when  they  were  almost  completely  exhausted.  I  saw 
the  hunter,  with  apparent  delight,  project  the  burning 
shot  into  the  sensitive  nerve  of  his  game.  I  saw  him 
beat  his  dog  unmercifully  for  what  the  dog  did  not 
know.  I  saw  the  butcher  not  only  slaughter,  but  tort- 
ure and  flay  with  satisfaction,  creatures  which  are  en- 
titled to  life  as  much  as  he.  I  saw  the  fisher  jerk  the 
hook  out  of  the  fishes'  throat,  as  if  fish  have  no  feeling, 
and  then  starve  them  in  an  atmosphere  of  air.  I  saw 
the  parent  scold,  kick  and  cuff  his  child  with  an  air  pf 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE   INDIVIDUALISM.  37 

delight  and  duty.  I  saw  the  politician  deceive  and 
defraud  his  constituents.  I  heard  the  minister  threaten 
his  devotees  with  everlasting  hell-fire.  I  saw  the  judge 
take  a  bribe.  I  heard  the  witness  perjure  himself,  and 
the  lawyer  misrepresent  his  case.  I  saw  the  stockman 
keep  his  stock  in  small,  filthy,  cold  stables  and  pens. 
I  saw  the  rich  trample  the  poor  into  the  mire  of  pov- 
erty. I  saw  the  editor  praise,  for  the  money  that  was 
in  it  for  him,  things  that  he  knew  were  worse  than 
worthless.  I  saw  the  landlord  evict  his  tenant  for  the 
only  crime  of  being  unable  to  pay  his  rent.  I  saw  train- 
robbers  wreck  trains  regardless  of  the  human  lives  they 
contained.  I  saw  incendiarism  practiced  with  the  sole 
object  of  material  pelf.  I  saw  countless  women  live  a 
life  of  sin  and  shame  in  order  to  make  a  livelihood.  I 
saw  the  toilers,  men,  women  and  children,  on  every  hand 
bent  and  deformed  under  their  burden  of  toil  and  care. 
I  heard  the  minister  preach  that  the  only  good  and 
truthful  man  your  world  ever  had — your  Redeemer — 
was  crucified  by  a  ruling  mob  for  expressing  His  honest 
opinion.  I  saw  the  policeman  club  his  victim;  the 
hangman  strangle  the  fallen.  I  saw  the  'State'  im- 
prison men  and  women  for  telling  the  truth  and  for 
investigating  the  so-called  laws  of  nature.  I  saw  the 
teacher  flog  his  pupil  often  only  for  telling  the  truth 
and  for  following  his  inquiring  nature.  I  saw  the  sol- 
dier shoot  his  fellowman  in  countless  numbers.  I  saw 
the  husband  subjugate  and  otherwise  misuse  his  wife. 
I  saw  the  'State'  compel  married  husbands  and  wives 
to  live  together  after  they  did  not  love  one  another  any 
more.  I  saw  people  starve,  freeze,  go  ragged  and  filthy, 
and  have  no  home  to  go  to.  •  I  heard  quarrels,  oaths, 
curses,  moans  and  sighs.     I  saw  tears  of  sorrow,  frowns; 


38  PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE   INDIVIDUALISM. 

sullen,  pouty  faces,  furrowed  brows,  anxious,  care-worn 
countenances,  decrepit,  emaciated,  diseased  human 
frames;  slow,  clumsy  gaits  and  countless  premature 
deaths.  And  I  saw  time  and  again  good  men  and 
women  ostracized,  imprisoned  and  hanged  for  express- 
ing their  honest  thoughts  and  for  giving  to  the  world 
the  fruits  of  their  honest  toil  of  observation  and  inves- 
tigation. 

"I  think  these  and  countless  other  cruelties  and 
outrages  are  enough  to  frighten  any  one  into  silence 
who  came  from  such  a  just,  kind  and  rich  world  as  I 
had  left  only  a  short  time  before. 

"You  may  say  that  it  was  foolish  for  me  to  be 
frightened  under  the  protecting  hand  of  your  civiliza- 
tion; but  you  must  bear  in  mind  that  the  trouble  was, 
and  is  still  more  so  now,  that  I  can  not  see  your  civili- 
zation. The  savage  would  doubtless  call  you  a  coward 
and  a  fool  for  being  frightened  in  his  state  of  society; 
but  you  would  undoubtedly  not  feel  at  ease  with  him, 
while  he  would  enjoy  it.  So  one  coming  from  a  more 
advanced  state  of  civilization  would  no  more  feel  at 
ease  in  your  world  than  you  would  among  the  savages. 

"For  these  and  other  reasons,  I  have  never  before 
mentioned  my  coming  to  this  earth  to  any  one  until  I 
became  a  member  of  your  kind,  intelligent  family, 
which  seems  so  homelike  that  I  can  say  what  I  desire 
and  what  I  believe  to  be  true  of  your  world,  and  what  I 
kiiow  to  be  true  of  our  world.  Of  course,  my  history 
and  my  visit  from  Mars  to  your  earth  is  not  intended 
to  be  a  secret  by  any  means.  As  I  have  told  you,  at 
first,  I  was  frightened  into  silence,  and  further  on, 
I  concluded  that  I  would  not  say  anything  about 
it  until  I  was  quite  familiar  with  all  your  institutions, 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  39 

and  until  I  had  learned  your  language  so  that  I 
could  give  you  a  clear,  intelligent  account  of  our 
world  and  compare  it,  in  an  unbiased  manner,  with 
your  world,  so  that  the  earthly  inhabitants  may  derive  all 
the  benefit  possible  from  our  older  and  fuller  scientific, 
social  and  industrial  experience." 

"Have  you  always  been  engaged  here  selling  Mr. 
Spencer's  works?"  asked  Viola. 

"Oh,  no!  You  see  at  my  arrival  I  was  at  a  great 
disadvantage.  I  could  not  speak  your  language,  and  I 
knew  nothing  of  your  customs,  habits,  science  and 
literature.  Much  pertaining  to  your  science,  society 
and  industry  was  new  to  me.  I  was  therefore  forced 
into  the  field  of  the  hardest  manual  labor.  But  as  I 
learned  to  read  and  write  your  languages,  I  found  that 
Mr.  Spencer's  philosophical  works  were  well  adapted  to 
give  the  necessary  information  essential  for  a  higher 
social  and  industrial  life.  Partly  for  this  reason,  partly 
for  making  a  livelihood,  and  partly  for  being  thrown 
in  contact  with  eminent  mechanics  whose  assistance  I 
am  seeking,  I  have  accepted  my  present  vocation  of 
disseminating  useful  knowledge  by  selling  good  works; 
for  I  am  convinced  that  thought  is  the  only  power  that 
can  move  the  psychical  world  in  the  right  direction," 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  MARSIAN  THEORY  OF  CREATION  AND  FORMATION. 

We  had  been  conversing  more  than  an  hour,  during 
which  time  the  rain  had  not  ceased  falling,  when  Mr. 
Uwins  asked  Mr.  Midith  about  the  Marsian  theory  of 
creatio?i2Lnd  formation.  We  were  all  intensely  eager  to 
hear  Mr.  Midith's  explanation;  even  little  Celestine's 
curiosity  was  so  aroused  by  the  unassuming,  clear, 
forcible  style  and  manner  of  Mr.  Midith  that  her  coun- 
tenance wore  a  more  than  usual  bright  and  pleasing 
aspect. 

"I  will  tell  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  said  Mr. 
Midith.  "As  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  learn  during  the 
ten  years  I  have  lived  on  earth,  the  fundamental  laws 
of  nature,  as  I  have  said  before,  are  the  same  on  earth 
as  they  are  on  Mars.  The  only  difference  is,  that  Mars 
is  further  advanced  astronomically  and  geologically. 
Mars  is  older  and  has  had  longer  time  for  development. 
Dynamics,  life,  thought,  society,  and  industry  are  much 
better  understood  by  the  masses  on  Mars  than  they 
are  understood  by  the  multitude  here.  Science  is  further 
advanced.  With  these  preliminary  remarks  I  shall 
give  you  as  nearly  as  I  can,  the  desired  informa- 
tion; and  I  hope  that  you  will  not  feel  back- 
ward in  asking  any  questions  that  may  suggest  them- 
selves to  your  minds  while  I  am  endeavoring  to  give 
you  an  explanation  of  the  foundation  upon  which  all 

40 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    IlSlDIVIDUALISM.  4 1 

knowledge  must  be  built.  You  can  see  from  the  nature 
of  the  question  which  you  ask  me  that  it  requires  quite 
an  elaborate  elucidation.  All  growth  and  change  that 
has  ever  taken  place  in  the  universe  is  based  on  this 
question — the  question  of  growth  and  development. 

"Respecting  the  origin  of  man  and  the  formation  of 
the  universe,  two  theories  or  doctrines  were  long  cur- 
rent with  the  Marsites.  One,  the  scientific  doctrine  of 
evolution,  which  is  founded  on  the  principle  of  growth 
and  change,  governed  by  fixed  laws.  The  other,  the 
theological  doctrine  of  'special  creation'  which  is 
founded  on  revelation.  The  doctrine  of  evolution 
assumes'  that  the  universe  has  slowly,  through  the  lapse 
of  millions  of  ages,  been  evolved  from  previously  exist- 
ing matter  by  continuous  integration  of  matter  and 
concomitant  dissipation  of  motion,  and  that  man  grad- 
ually and  slowly  evolved  from  lower  organisms,  and  has 
attained  his  present  form  and  mental  endowments  by 
the  influence  of  his  environment,  personal  and  ancestral. 
It  teaches  that  man,  as  a  whole,  has  been,  and  is  still 
continually  rising  in  the  scale  of  existence.  It  is,  there- 
fore, also  an  encouraging  and  cheerful  belief. 

"The  long  antiquated  doctrine  of  'special  creation' 
assumed  that  the  universe  was  created  out  of  '?wthifig' 
by  an  external  agency;  that  man  was  created /r^T^*:/ 
out  of  clay,  somewhat  after  the  fashion  that  a  potter 
makes  an  earthern  vessel,  and  that  he  fell  from  his 
state  of  perfection  to  what  we  now  find  him.  This  was 
a  discouraging,  a  gloomy  belief,  which,  if  continued, 
must  eventually  end  in  total  degradation." 

"What  evidence  suggested  the  theory  of  evolution 
to  the  Marsites?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 


42  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"Let  us  briefly  consider  a  few  of  them,"  continued 
Mr.  Midith. 

"A  good  farmer  always  reserves  the  best  of  his 
crops  for  seed.  This  is  artificial  selection;  that  is,  the 
best  and  fittest  is  artificially  reserved  by  man  for  seed, 
which  is  to  produce  the  next  year's  crop.  A  stock- 
breeder reserves  the  largest,  strongest,  fleetest  and 
most  symmetrical  individuals  to  propagate  the  race. 

"The  horticulturist  selects  seed  from  the  choicest 
flowers  and  fruit.  You  see  all  this  is  selection,  but 
not  natural  selection;  it  is  artificial,  as  you  call  it,  be- 
cause it  is  done  by  man.  Man  aids  naturae,  so  to 
speak;  but  nature  unaided  makes  just  such  selection 
during  the  lapse  of  long  ages.  In  the  plant  and  animal 
kingdoms,  especially  in  the  lower  orders  millions  must 
perish  in  order  to  give  room  and  opportunity  for  a  few 
to  live.  As  long  as  muscle,  and  not  reason,  is  the 
most  advantageous  weapon  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence,'the  strongest,  toughest,  fleetest  and  fiercest  ones 
survive  and  reproduce  the  race,  and  in  this  manner  the 
superior  qualities  of  the  parents  are  continually  trans- 
mitted and  added  to,  in  the  offspring. 

"Organs  develop  by  healthful  use  and  become 
rudimentary  by  disuse.  The  blacksmith's  arm  be- 
comes strong  by  constant  healthful  use.  The  eyes  of 
moles  became  rudimentary  by  disuse.  The  crabs  and 
fishes  in  the  Mammoth  Cave  have  lost  their  eyes 
entirely  by  disuse,  but  the  sockets  remain  as  rudimen- 
tary remnants.  If  we  should  keep  the  right  arm  con- 
stantly out  of  use,  and  do  all  our  work  with  the  left, 
that  is,  beginning  at  childhood,  there  would  be  a  per- 
ceptible difference  in  the  size  and  function  of  the  two 
arms  in  one  generation;  and,  if  this  practice  were  con- 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  43 

tinned  for  thousands  of  generations,  use,  disuse  and 
heredity  would  no  doubt  aid  in  bringing  about  a  vast 
inequality  between  the  active  and  inactive  arms. 

"There  are  vast  transformations  taking  place  before 
our  own  eyes,  on  earth  the  same  as  on  Mars,  which  are 
wonderful  proofs  of  evolution.  For  instance,  the  frog 
begins  life  as  a  fish  and  tnen  lungs  displace  gills.  But- 
terflies, bees  and  beetles  of  all  kinds  start  out  as  grubs 
and  undergo  wonderful  transformations. 

"Embryonic  (pertaining  to  the  rudiments  of  an 
undeveloped  plant  or  animal)  growth  furnishes  one  of 
the  strongest,  as  well  as  the  most  startling  proofs  of 
evolution.  Each  individual  passes  through  all  the  suc- 
cessive stages  which  have  preceded  in  the  line  of  its 
tribal  history, 

"In  morphological  structure,  convincing  proofs  of 
evolution  are  found.  We  find  fossil  remains  of  animals 
that  have  gradually  developed  in  size  from  a  fox  to 
your  modern  horse. 

"Geologists  have  partially  examined  the  Marsian 
crust  to  a  certain  depth,  the  same  as  you  have  exam- 
ined the  earth's  crust,  but  more  minutely  and  more 
thoroughly.  Fossils  (animal  and  vegetable  remains 
imbedded  in  the  rock  formation  of  the  earth's  crust)  of 
various  kinds  are  found  in  this  rock  formation  com- 
posing the  crust.  Remains  of  the  most  lowly  organ- 
ized plants  and  animals  are  found  in  the  lowest  strata, 
and  as  we  ascend  the  fossils  become  more  and  more 
complex.  And  the  present  generation  of  organic 
beings  living  on  the  surface  of  Mars,  or  on  the  surface 
of  the  earth,  are  more  complex  and  more  highly 
developed  than  any  fossil  remains  that  have  ever  been 
buried  on  the  respective  planets.  . 


44  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"The  preceding  consideration  shows  that  the  fossils 
testify  to  the  fact  that  there  has  been  a  slow,  but 
gradual  development  during  the  almost  immeasurable 
eons  of  time  that  were  required  for  the  formation  of 
these  sedimentary  strata  that  contain  the  precious 
'Revolution  written  by  the  finger  of  Time  on  the  Rock 
of  Ages,  and  by  the  ink  of  Death.'" 

"What  a  long,  long  time  must  have  been  required  to 
produce  such  changes  as  you  speak  of.  Have  you  any 
idea,  Mr.  Midith,  how  long  the  Marsian  crust  was  in 
forming?"  asked  Viola. 

"  It  is  not  finished  yet,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "It  is  still 
forming  the  same  as  ever.  The  crust  is  growing  thicker 
every  moment  by  internal  cooling  and  by  external 
accretion  of  meteoric  dust,  etc.,  and  fossils  of  the 
present  time  are  now  being  buried  the  same  as  they 
were  during  all  preceding  geologic  ages. 

"Let  us,  in  a  few  thoughts,  endeavor  to  travel  back 
from  the  present  to  that  primitive  time,  when  nature 
imbedded  tlie  first  organic  remains  in  the  then  forming 
strata.  The  proportion  of  water  area  to  the  land  was 
much  greater  then  than  it  is  at  present.  There  were  no 
high  mountains,  because  the  solid  crust  was  thin,  and 
the  doubling  or  folding  up  of  a  thin  crust  can  not  pro- 
duce a  high  fold,  or  mountain,  and,  therefore,  the 
Marsian  crust,  or  surface,  was  at  this  primitive  begin- 
ning not  so  much  diversified  by  mountains  and  depres- 
sions as  it  is  at  present.  It  was  more  nearly  spherical, 
and  hence  all,  or  nearly  all,  covered  v/ith  water;  and 
what  applies  to  Mars'  crust  undoubtedly  applies,  under 
similar  conditions,  equally  to  the  surface  of  all  other 
planets. 

"Igneous  rocks,  as  you  know,  are  produced  by  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  45 

gradual  cooling  of  the  heated  matter  of  a  planet,  moon, 
or  sun.  They  are  formed  next  to  the  internal  fire,  and 
can,  therefore,  contain  no  iossils.  Before  fossils  could 
be  imbedded,  igneous  rocks  had  to  be  slowly  disinte- 
grated by  the  action  of  heat  and  cold,  wind  and  wave, 
rain  and  drought,  and  other  atmospheric  phenomena. 
Clay,  soil,  sand,  etc.,  is  nothing  but  a  pulverized 
igneous  rock. 

"After  the  solid  igneous  rock  gradually  became  pul- 
verized, the  wind,  rain,  tide,  flood  and  current  had  to 
carry  this  pulverized  igneous  rock,  or  sand,  into  the 
lowest  ocean  and  river  beds,  where  the  process  of 
forming  sedimentary  (deposited  by  water),  fossiliferous, 
stratified  rock  began. 

"Here  we  can  clearly  see,  then,  how  the  remains  of 
perished  plants  and  animals  have  been  imbedded  from 
time  to  time  in  this  slowly  forming  sedimentary  rock. 
The  fossils  of  the  lower  strata  are  the  simplest;  those 
nearest  the  surface,  or  the  most  recently  formed,  the 
most  complex.  The  modern  wrecked  steamer  will  be 
a  fossil  of  the  future,  the  same  as  the  entombed  skeleton 
of  antiquity,  or  the  imbedded  canoe  of  primitive  man, 
are  fossils  of  the  present.  The  fossils,  then,  are  one  of 
the  strongest  proofs  of  evolution.  They  indicate  a 
slow  but  gradual  development  of  plant  and  animal  life; 
and  as  time  passes,  both  here  and  on  Mars,  more  and 
more  new  links,  which  bind  all  things  into  a  grand 
whole,  imperceptible  gradations  of  development,  are 
being  discovered. 

"Such,  then,  are  some  of  the  most  conspicuous  signs 
which  undoubtedly  suggested  and  strengthened,  at 
every  step  of  advance,  the  evolution  theory;  and  alsQ 


46  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

correspondingly  weakened  and  discredited  the 'special 
creation'  theory." 

"I  have  never  before  taken  any  stock  in  evolution," 
said  Rev.  Dudley,  "but  I  must  acknowledge  that  the 
testimonies  cited  by  you  are  very  strong;  we  see  them 
daily  transpiring  before  our  eyes  right  here  on  earth. 
But  allow  me  to  ask  you,  Mr.  Midith,  w^hat  is  your 
theory  of  the  fathomless  abyss  of  the  starry  heavens?  I 
think  that  part  of  the  question  is  not  so  easily  handled 
as  that  which  treats  of  the  formation  of  a  planet's 
crust." 

"I  have  so  far  considered  evolution  only  as  affect- 
ing the  Marsian  and  earth's  crusts,  and  the  organic 
beings  living  upon  them.  I  endeavored  to  make  the 
elucidation  as  clear  as  possible  by  beginning  at  the 
nearest,  simplest  and  most  conspicuous  evidences. 
But  let  us  bear  in  mind  that  our  earth  and  Mars  are 
only  little  nooks,  insignificant  motes  as  compared  with 
the  visible  universe.  We  are  convinced  now  that  evolu- 
tion holds  good  in  the  formation  and  dissolution  of 
heavenly  bodies  as  well  as  in  the  formation  of  planets' 
crusts,  and  in  the  development  of  organic  beings.  The 
planets  with  their  attendant  moons  are  little  solar 
systems,  so  to  speak,  w^th  their  moons  revolving 
around  them,  which  were  detached  from  the  planets 
millions  of  ages  ago.  Saturn  has  eight  moons  and  an 
unbroken  ring.  The  sun  has  planets  revolving  around 
him,  the  same  as  the  moons  revolve  around  the  planets, 
and  our  whole  solar  system  revolves  around  a  center 
with  incredible  velocity.  From  moon  to  planet,  from 
planet  to  sun,  from  sun  to  Galaxy  we  may  travel  in 
our  imagination  and  rest  on  the  ultimate  axiom — the 
'persistence  of  force.' 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  47 

"We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  there  is  a  gap 
or  break  anywhere  in  the  operation  of  the  so-called 
nature.  No  one  can  tell  precisely  where  the  human 
leaves  off  and  the  animal  begins;  where  the  animal 
leaves  off  and  the  vegetable  begins;  where  the  organic 
leaves  off  and  the  inorganic  begins.  There  is  a  gradual 
development  from  the  simple  to  the  complex,  from  the 
lower  to  the  higher,  from  the  inferior  to  the  superior, 
from  the  ignorant  to  the  intelligent,  from  the  cruel  to 
the  gentle;  a  gradual  merging  or  gradation  from  one 
into  the  other;  the  transition  at  any  one  point  is  so 
slight  that  it  is  imperceptible  to  the  human  eye.  Al- 
low me  to  say  that  there  never  was  a _^r.f/ human  being, 
no  more  than  there  was  a  first  threshing  machine.  The 
mouth  of  the  animal  was  a  very  primitive  threshing 
machine;  then  the  mouth  and  paws  together;  then  the 
hand;  then  the  flail,  then  the  hand-thresher;  then  the 
horse-power,  and  now  the  steam-thresher;  thus  we  see 
that  there  never  was  a  first  thresher,  nor  was  it 
ever  made,  but  gradually  developed  and  improved  to 
its  present  structure  and  capacity;  so,  too,  with  man. 
The  lower  organism  out  of  which  man,  through  the 
lapse  of  countless  ages,  evolved,  gradually  grew  more 
and  more  luouaii  like  from  the  effects  of  intercourse 
with  his  environment;  and  this  process  is  still  going 
on.  Man  is  not  finished  yet.  The  same  forces  that 
have  brought  him  from  his  primitively  low  plane  to 
his  present  relatively  high  one  are  elevating  him  still 
higher.  So  we  see  that  man  ivas  not  created,  but  w  still 
being  created,  evolved;  and  so  with  all  else. 

"According  to  what  you  call  the  'nebular  hypothesis,' 
the  earth  once  filled  the  entire  orbit  of  the  moon.  The 
matter  composing  the  earth  was  then  in  a  rare,  highly- 


48  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

heated  state,  revolving  around  the  sun,  from  which  it 
was  detached  and  rotated  on  its  axis,  which  caused  the 
detachment  of  the  matter  out  of  which  the  moon  was 
formed. 

"The  number  of  atoms  composing  the  earth,  as  well 
as  the  number  of  atoms  composing  the  entire  solar  sys- 
tem, was //^^^/zV^//^  the  same  then  as  it  is  now.  Heat, 
which  is  the  repellent  force,  kept  the  atoms  and  mole- 
cules so  far  apart  that  the  matter  composing  the  earth 
formed  a  sphere  of  nebulous  matter,  filling  the  entire 
orbit  of  the  moon.  In  like  manner  did  the  sun  once 
fill  the  entire  orbit  of  the  earth,  and  at  a  preceding 
time  the  entire  orbit  of  Neptune. 

"But  some  time  before  this,  the  earth  was  even 
larger  than  the  orbit  of  the  moon.  The  nebulous  mat- 
ter now  composing  the  earth  and  the  moon,  which  are 
now  two  separate  bodies,  was  once  all  in  the  same 
sphere.  By  the  gradual  radiation  of  heat,  the  volume, 
but  not  the  mass,  diminished,  and  the  axial  rotation 
increased  until  a  broad  concentric  ring  detached  itself. 
The  impulse  of  the  moon's  revolutionary  motion  was 
given  by  the  earth's  rotation  on  its  axis. 

"All  plastic  bodies,  like  a  planet,  etc.,  assume  a 
spherical  form,  because  all  particles  equally  distant 
from  the  center  are  equally  attracted  toward  the  center; 
and  a  sphere  is  the  only  'solid'  in  which  these  condi- 
tions can  be  fulfilled.  A  sphere  formed  from  the 
breaking  up  and  concentrating  of  a  broad  concentric 
ring,  like  the  rings  out  of  which  planets  and  moons  are 
formed,  must  necessarily  rotate  on  its  axis,  because  the 
particles  which  compose  the  concentric  ring  had  an 
uneq^ual  revolutionary  velocity.     Those  particles  of  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  49 

ring  nearest  the  center  had  a  less  angular  velocity  than 
those  particles  farthest  away  from  the  center. 

"Just  as  these  few  bodies  constituting  our  solar 
system  of  which  I  have  spoken  were  and  are  affected, 
so,  we  believfe,  have  been  or  will  all  heavenly  bodies — 
moons,  planets,  suns  and  stars — in  all  parts  of  the  uni- 
verse be  affected  during  the  lapse  of  untold  ages. 

"From  this  brief  explanation,  you  will  readily  see 
that  the  Marsites'  conception  of  creation  ■A.xi^your  evo- 
lution theory  are  almost  exactly  identical.  Observa- 
tion and  experience  have  led  the  Marsites  and  the 
mundane  inhabitants  to  similar  beliefs  on  these  points 
of  creation  and  formation. 

"It  is  getting  late,  and  I  fear  that  I  shall  be  intrud- 
ing on  our  time  which  should  be  assigned  for  rest  and 
sleep,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "I  believe,  as  we  have  learned 
in  our  native  home,  that  we  ought  to  cultivate  regular 
habits  and  try  to  live  up  to  them." 

"Mr.  Midith,  I  think  you  are  just  an  excellent  teach- 
er!" exclaimed  little  Celestine.  "  You  ;«?«/ surely  stop 
with  us  while  you  are  in  our  town.  I  am  going  to  ask 
you  ever  so  many  more  questions  about  your  books, 
animals,  towns,  playmates  and  a  thousand  other  things." 

"Yes,  Mr.  Midith,"  said  Rev.  Dudley;  "if you  con- 
sider all  those  things  wrong  and  cruel  that  you  men- 
tioned to  us  some  time  ago,  I  shall  be  much  pleased 
to  know  how  you  get  along  without  them,  and  how 
you  got  rid  of  them  if  you  once  had  them  like  you 
now  find  them  here." 

"  To  do  without  them  is  much  more  simple  than  to 

have  them,  as  you   shall  see  further   on,"  replied  Mr. 

Midith.     "Of  course,  we  passed   through  all  the  stages 

of  physical  and   intellectual  evolution   that  you  have 
1 


50  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

passed  through  and  are  now  in,  and  we  have  also  gone 
much  farther  than  you  have  thus  far.  At  one  time  our 
social  and  industrial  system  was  afflicted  with  all  your 
present  evils  and  cruelty.  We  were  in  succession  can- 
nibals, savages,  semi-civilized  and  are  now  what  we 
call  civilized.     What  we  will  be  next  we  can  not  tell." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HOME    AND    FAMILY. 

In  the  evening  when  we  retired,  it  was  still  raining, 
but  the  next  morning  greeted  us  with  a  bright,  pleasant 
sunshine.  All  nature  seemed  to  be  clothed  in  her  best 
garment.  The  faces  at  Uwins'  appeared  to  be  as 
pleasing  to  the  sight  after  a  refreshing  night's  rest  as 
the  verdant  foliage,  refreshed  by  the  warm  rain  and 
delightful  sunshine. 

After  dinner,  when  we  were  all  seated  in  the  parlor, 
Mr.  Uwins  asked  Mr.  Midith  about  the  family-home  as 
it  existed  on  Mars. 

"We  have  no  home  and  no  family  as  you  know  a 
home  and  a  family,"  replied  Mr.  Midith.  "We  have  no 
home  and  no  family  in  which  one  man  and  one  woman 
live  together  with  their  children  as  you  do  here.  Our 
ancient  history  tells  us  that  long,  long  ago,  we  had 
homes  and  families  just  like  you  have  them  here  now. 

"It  may,  at  first  sight  and  in  your  mundane  age, 
seem  strange  to  you  to  have  no  family-home  like  yours; 
but  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact.  You  see  society  on  Mars, 
as  I  have  told  you  elsewhere,  has  had  longer  time  to 
evolve  than  it  has  had  on  earth.  We  must  expect  to 
find  a  more  advanced  state  of  society  and  industry 
there,  or  we  are  no  believers  in  evolution,  in  progress." 

"If  you  have  no  home  and  no  family  like  ours  on 

Mars,  in  what  manner  do  you  live  there  then?"  asked 

Mrs.  Uwins,  full  of  interest. 

5i 


52 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 


Diagram  1... 


II   L 


J   C 


Main  building 
150x600  feet 


■-'ft.'-' 


-]25r" 
Hft.'-i 


3  L 


-J  r 


•n 

c. 

;> 

1 

S 

^ 

!» 

D 

T-:' 

lit? 

!0 

^ 

P 

B 

3 

1 

?? 

O) 

<t 

A  diagram  of  a  big-house;  ground  plan. 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE   INDIVIDUALISM.  53 

"I  will  tell  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,"  began  Mr. 
Midith.  "Our  smallest  dwellings  accommodate  about 
a  thousand  men,  women  and  children.  These  dwell- 
ings or  Marsian  homes  are  grand,  magnificent  struct- 
ures about  eight  stories  high,  the  main  building  150  x 
600  feet,  with  three  wings  on  each  side  60  x  300  feet. 
(See  diagram  p.  52.)  There  is  an  electric  engine  in 
every  dwelling,  which  heats  every  apartment;  it  lights 
them  with  soft  brilliant  electric  lights;  it  does  all  the 
culi'nary  work — cooking,  baking,  etc.;  it  pumps  the 
water  to  all  parts  of  the  building;  it  does  all  the 
laundry  work — washing,  drying  and  ironing,  warms  the 
water  for  the  bath-rooms  and  for  all  other  apartments; 
it  runs  the  elevators,  heats  the  conservatories  and 
green-houses;  it  runs  the  sewing-machines,  dish-washers 
and  all  other  machinery  in  the  building  which  I  can  not 
mention  at  present.  In  the  summer  it  cools  depart- 
ments by  creating  currents  of  air, 

"See  how  vastly  we  economize  both  in  wealth  and 
in  labor,  by  co-operating  just  in  this  one  direction. 
One  thousand,  more  or  less,  of  us  live  together  in  one 
magnificent  building,  instead  of  one  husband  and  one 
wife  and  their  children,  living  in  a  frail,  ill-constructed, 
inconvenient  cottage.  We  have  one  electric  engine  do 
the  heating  for  a  thousand  or  more,  instead  of  having 
one  or  more  stoves  in  each  little  cottage.  Instead  of 
every  home  like  here,  having  one  or  more  lamps  to  fill 
and  clean,  our  engine  lights  every  apartment  as  light 
as  day  with  an  electric  light.  Instead  of  each  small 
family  having  a  cook-stove  and  washing  machine,  we 
run  all  our  work  with  one  engine.  We  need  no  heat- 
ing-stoves, no  hand  washing-machine;  the  bath-rooms 
are  comfortable  and  convenient.      We  do  all  this  and 


54  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

much  more  with  one  engine  for  the  accommodation  of 
a  thousand  or  more  members  of  our  large  Marsian 
family. 

"The  interior  of  the  building  is  elegantly  finished 
and  richly  furnished;  each  individual,  young  and  old, 
has  a  private  apartment.  (See  page  55.)  Then  we  have 
public  apartments — grand  public  parlors  of  all  sizes;  a 
public  dining-room;  a  public  hall  for  games,  exercises 
and  amusements  of  all  kinds;  a  large,  fine  library;  nur- 
series with  plenty  of  toys  for  children  of  all  ages;  pub- 
lic and  private  baths,  an  elegant  barber  shop,  a  large, 
well-filled  store,  a  grand  restaurant,  a  large,  clean,  well- 
ventilated  kitchen  with  plenty  of  good,  handsome, 
tidy  cooks  and  helpers — both  men  and  women;  public 
reading  and  writing  rooms,  a  scientific  department  for 
philosophical  apparatus  and  a  well-filled  laboratory  in- 
cluding drugs,  a  tailor  and  milliner  shop,  a  vehicle  de- 
partment, etc.  The  dwellings,  notwithstanding  their 
size,  are  so  well  ventilated  and  cooled  in  summer,  and 
so  uniformly  warmed  in  winter  that  an  inmate  can 
scarcely  tell  whether  it  is  winter  or  summer. 

"Let  us  now  leave  the  interior  of  the  'Big-House' 
for  a  few  moments  and  give  a  brief  description  of  the 
surroundings.  I  shall  hereafter  call  the  Marsian 
dwelling  a  'big-house'  so  as  to  distinguish  it  from  your 
family  home  here.  Let  me  say  right  here  that  there 
are  a  few  general  facts  of  which  I  would  like  to  inform 
you,  before  I  attempt  a  more  detailed  description  of 
the  exterior  surroundings  of  our  'big-house.' 

"You  want  to  bear  in  mind  that  we  have  a  family; 
but  that  the  family  consists  of  a  thousand  or  more 
men,  women  and  children,  instead  of  consisting  like 
your  family  of  from  one  to  six  or  more.     That  we  have 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 


55 


no  cities  and  towns,  and  no  country;  that  our  day's 
manual  labor  consists  in  an  average  of  less  than  two 
hours;  this  you  will  readily  see  as  soon  as  you  clearly 


56  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

understand  how  vastly  we  economize  both  wealth  and 
labor  in  all  directions  by  voluntary  co-operative  indi- 
vidualism. Years  ago  we  had  cities  and  towns,  and  a 
country  similar  to  yours  of  the  present  time;  but  ex- 
perience gradually  taught  us  that  it  is  not  healthful  to 
live  in  a  crowded,  smoky  city  and  town,  and  also  that 
we  have  no  particular  use  for  cities  and  towns,  that 
they  are  detrimental  to  an  orderly,  well-regulated  so- 
ciety. We  also  found  that  a  family  of  husband  and 
wife  and  their  children,  living  alone  in  a  country  home, 
are  largely  wasting  their  lives  socially  and  econom- 
ically." 

"You  said,  Mr.  Midith,  that  you  have  no  cities  and 
towns  and  no  country  either.  I  should  like  to  know 
where  you  live  then?  asked  Rev.  Dudley.  "All  the 
houses  here  on  earth  are  either  in  cities  and  towns,  or 
they  are  in  the  country.  I  can  see  no  other  place  for 
them.  You  do  not  live  on  rafts  and  boats,  do  you? 
You  seem  to  have  so  many  strange  notions  on  Mars 
that  a  person  can  not  tell  what  you  might  do  until  you 
have  told  us." 

Mr.  Midith  laughed  as  he  continued:  "Our  'big 
houses'  are  built  about  a  half  a  mile  apart  all  around 
rectangular  fields  twenty-four  miles  long  and  six  miles 
wide,  containing  according  to  your  measurement  four 
geographical  townships,  or  92,160  acres  each."  (See 
pp.  57  and  58 

"There  are  double-tracked,  electric-motor  lines  run- 
ning all  around  these  large  divisions  of  land,  so  that 
every  'big-house'  is  situated  ,on  a  motor-line.  These 
large  divisions  of  land,  together  with  the  houses  and 
people  that  live  on  them,  we  call  communities.  A 
community,  then,  has  an  area  of  four  townships,  more 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  $7 


II 

The  rectangles  represent  Communities  6  x  24. miles  and  are  numbered  as  aliove;  the 
blxcls  lines  represent  motor-lines;  the  dotted  lines,  railroads  which  are  about  100  miles  apart. 


58  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

JL 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  59 

or  less,  and  a  perimeter  of  sixty  miles,  on  which  a  big- 
house,  containing  about  a  thousand  inmates  is  situated 
at  intervals  of  about  half  a  mile.  (See  p.  58.)  This 
gives  a  community  a  population  of  about  120,000  per- 
sons. These  motor-lines  connect  with  railroads  at 
intervals  of  about  a  hundred  miles  or  more,  as  the  case 
may  be.  Our  railroads  are  nearly  all  straight  and  al- 
most level,  with  heavy  steel  composition  rails,  laid  on 
a  solid  roadbed,  and  the  time  of  many  trains  exceeds 
a  speed  of  a  hundred  miles  an  hour. 

On  page  60,  figure  5,  I  have  given  a  diagram,  as 
described  by  Mr.  Midith,  of  a  cross  section  of  the  land 
along  the  motor-lines,  extending  from  the  motor-line 
to  the  main  field  or  body  of  land  in  the  community. 
"A  represents  a  hundred-foot  wide  motor-line.  B 
represents  a  strip  of  park  land  one-fourth  mile  wide,  on 
which  the  'big-houses'  are  located.  D  represents  a 
hundred-foot  wide  boulevard.  C  C  represents  walks 
on  each  side  of  the  main  boulevard.  E  represents  a 
conservatory  and  green-house  five  hundred  feet  wide. 
F  represents  a  walk  between  the  conservatory  and  the 
garden  G,  which  is  one  thousand  feet  wide.  I  is  an 
orchard  one  thousand  feet  wide.  H  is  a  walk  between 
the  garden  and  orchard.  J  represents  the  edge  of  the 
field,  etc.,  which  extends  clear  across  the  community. 

"These  parks,  boulevards,  walks,  conservatories, 
etc.,  run  parallel  with  the  entire  length  of  all  the  motor- 
lines  wherever  the  lay  of  the  land  will  permit  it." 

"O,  how  beautifully  you  have  all  this  arranged!" 
exclaimed  Viola.  'T  suppose  you  have  a  great  many 
fine,  fast  horses  on  your  broad  boulevards.  I  am  sure 
you  have  plenty  of  time  to  train  them  if  you  work  less 
than  two  hours  a  day." 


60  PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 


-A Motor  line 

- — ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^       loo  feet  wide. 


Park  on  whitfli 
big-liouses  are 
B  built. 

One-fourth  mile. 


C  Walks 

1^  Boulevard 

TOO  feet  wide 


C  Walks 


Conservatory  &  G-H 
500  feet  wide 


F  _■ .Walk 

Garden 

1000  feet  wide 


ri  Wiilks 

Orchard 

I 

'looo  feet  wide 

Field 
"  ahou,t  5  miles. wide; 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  6l 

"We  have  no  oxen  and  horses,  no  draught  animals 
of  any  kind,  except  a  few. the  same  as  you  keep  elk," 
said  Mr.  Midith.  "As  I  have  said,  it  seems  very  cruel 
to  me  to  use  animals  the  way  you  do.  To  beat  them; 
to  hitch  them  up  so  unnaturally,  and  to  work  and  run 
them  so  cruelly." 

"How,  then,  do  you  farm,  Mr.  Midith?"  asked 
Roland.  "Do  you  spade  the  land  like  our  ancestors 
used  to  do?" 

"The  farming  is  all  done  with  electric  power.     A 
locomotive,  which  builds  and  takes  up  its  own  track, 
does  all  the  plowing,  sowing,  harvesting,  etc.     Instead 
of  fencing  each  little  patch  of  land,  and  turning  our 
weak,  tired  teams  before  all  those  fences,  destroying, 
in  the  act  of  turning,  the  very  crops  you  endeavor  to 
raise,  like  you  do  here,  we  hitch  up  a  powerful  land 
locomotive  to  a  set  of  gang  plows  and  plow  a  furrow 
which  is  from  three  to  twenty-four  miles  long,  as  the 
case  may  be.     Our  fifty-foot  header,  propelled  by  an 
electric  engine,  cuts  the  heads  from  the  grain  and  ele- 
vates  them    into  a    large    wagon   rack.     This    wagon, 
when  full,  is  taken  with   an  engine  to  the  warehouses, 
represented  on  p.    58,  community  No.  2;  here  the  cut 
ears  are  dumped   into  a  large    hopper.     Each  header 
has  enough  wagons  for  hauling  grain  to  keep  it  cutting 
all  the  time.     From  the  hoppers  at  the   warehouses, 
elevators  take  the  cut  grain,  or  ears,  to  drying  rooms. 
In    these     drying    rooms     currents   of   hot    air    pass 
through  the  grain,  and  in  a  few  days   it  is  perfectly 
dry.     Here  it  is  elevated  into  the  thresher,  and  from 
the  thresher  it  passes  into  drying  bins,  where  it  is  dried 
for  keeping  or  for  grinding.     Thus  you  see  that   in 
sowing,  reaping,  threshing  and  grinding,  not  a  human 


62  PKACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.' 

hand  has  touched  a  straw  nor  a  grain.  With  our 
method  of  artificial  curing,  not  a  grain  is  damaged  by 
moisture,  not  a  grain  is  lost  on  the  land  or  road.  By 
the  aid  of  electricity  we  can,  if  need  be,  cut  day  and 
night,  rain  and  shine. 

"From  the  foregoing,  you  see  that  our  system  of 
agriculture,  especially  harvesting,  has  many  points  of 
advantage  over  yours;  a  few  of  which  I  shall  name. 
You  first  cut  the  grain  with  a  little  reaper  or  self-binder 
which  throws  the  grain  on  the  ground;  here  a  portion 
of  the  grain  is  lost  by  being  scattered  on  the  ground; 
then  you  shock  it,  by  which  another  portion  is  lost; 
then  you  dry  it  in  the  sun;  by  this  process  a  large  por- 
tion is  lost,  and  a  still  larger  portion  is  more  or  less 
damaged  by  wind  and  rain  in  the  field.  After  this  you 
stack  it;  here  in  the  stack  some  more  is  lost;  a  portion 
is  lost  and  damaged  by  heating  and  some  by  rain. 
Your  little,  ill-adjusted  thresher,  hauled  around  over  the 
fields,  run  a  portion  of  it  into  the  straw-pile;  part  of  it 
is  trampled  into  the  ground  and  another  part  is  dam- 
aged by  rain  during  the  process  of  threshing.  Next, 
in  your  crowded,  ill-ventilated  bins,  a  portion  of  it  is 
totally  spoiled,  and  a  large  portion  of  it  is  more  or  less 
damaged.  Another  portion  is  lost  and  damaged  on  the 
road  when  the  farmer  brings  it  to  market.  Then  your 
little  country  mills  only  half  grind  it.  Again,  during 
a  rainy  season,  you  can  cut  only  during  the  daytime 
when  the  grain  is  dry. 

"After  all  these  and  countless  other  losses  and 
damages,  you  need  not  be  surprised  that  so  many  of 
your  poor  people  are  starving  for  bread,  or  are  only  too 
glad  to  get  the  bread  made  of  damaged  grain.  By  our 
method  all  our  grain  is  saved  and  none  of  it  is  damaged. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  63 

We  do  not  depend  for  our  curing  on  the  immediate 
sunshine,  as  you  have  seen. 

"To  be  sure  we,  the  same  as  you,  must  adapt  our 
farming  to  suit  the  land  and  climate,  which  are  as  diver- 
sified and  varied  on  Mars  as  they  are  on  earth;  but  the 
foregoing  system  is  adopted  where  the  land  and  other 
conditions  are  suited  for  it.  Thus  we  see  that  as  long 
as  the  changeableness  and  uncertainty  of  climatic  con- 
ditions are  not  under  scientific  control,  that  system  of 
harvesting,  which  depends  for  its  drying  and  curing  on 
the  immediate  sunshine  of  the  harvest-time  must,  in 
an  average,  always  be  attended  with  a  large  portion  of 
loss  and  damage. 

"You  notice  that  there  is  nothing  ne\^  in  our  system 
of  harvesting.  By  extensive,  voluntary  co-operation 
you  can  do  the  same.  You  have  headers,  engines, 
elevators,  electricity,  currents  of  hot  air  for  drying, 
and  you  can  build  large  warehouses  for  drying  and 
storing  grain  as  well  as  we  can.  Your  main  trouble  is 
that  you  work  too  single  handed.  I  may  say  right  here 
that  I  am  acquainted  with  an  inventor  who  resides  near 
Grand  Junction,  Iowa.  This  man  has  a  tract-building 
locomotive  that  can  pull  a  heavy  load  over  softer 
ground  than  a  team  is  able  to  walk  on.  Of  course,  this 
is  only  a  rude  beginning,  but  it  shows  the  way  you  are 
tending. 

"On  Mars  transportation  is  rapid,  cheap  and  con- 
venient. Manufacturing  is  principally  done  in  those 
localities  where  it  requires  the  least  amount  of  labor. 
Crops  best  adapted  to  the  locality  are  raised  there  and 
then  transported  where  consumed.  Our  freight  trains 
carry  3,000  tons  from  40  to  lOO  miles  an  hour. 

"Here  are  a  few  facts  that  will  enable  you  to  undei;- 


64  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

stand  how  vastly  we  economize  both  wealth  and  labor 
by  our  extensive  co-operative  individualism,  and  how 
easily  we  can  produce  with  abundance  the  necessaries 
and  luxuries  of  life,  so  that  we  are  obliged  to  work  but 
a  few  hours  daily.  Each  community  is,  so  to  speak, 
a  large  family,  in  which  each  member  has  a  personal 
interest  in  the  community's  wealth.  For  this  reason 
every  member  of  the  community  is  keenly  interested 
in  the  productive  industries  of  the  community.  Mars 
has,  therefore,  no  wage-workers.  Experience  convinced 
us  that  a  wage-worker,  having  no  direct  interest  in  his 
productions,  is,  as  a  rule,  not  highly  interested  in  the 
quantity  and  quality  of  his  labor;  such  uninterested 
labor  is  also  toilsome  and  fatiguing.  I  have  given  you 
this  brief  outline  of  our  social  and  industrial  system 
now,  so  that  you  may  mentally  assimilate  the  funda- 
mental plan  of  it;  and  on  some  future  occasion,  I  will 
give  you  a  more  detailed  description  of  each  part  of  it. 
Too  much  at  one  time  will  cause  a  mental  confusion. 

"You  see  there  is  only  one  difficult  point  in  the  so- 
lution of  the  social  and  industrial  problem,  and  that 
point  I  shall  now  endeavor  to  make  you  understand, 
if  you  do  not  already  understand  it,  so  that  hereafter 
you  may  always  bear  that  point  in  mind  in  connection 
with  social  and  industrial  progress.  The  difficult  point 
is  this:  To  devise  or  outline  a  social  and  industrial  sys- 
tem in  which  a  large  number  of  individuals  co-operate 
harmoniously,  and  yet  have  every  individual  free  to  do 
what  he  believes  to  be  right,  provided  he  infringes  not 
upon  the  equal  rights  of  any  other  person.  No  man 
here  on  earth  thus  far  has  been  able  to  outline  such  a 
system." 

"  Do  you  not  have  many  quarrels  in  your  large  fam- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  65 

ilies?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley.  "I  am  quite  certain  that 
if  our  family  were  increased  to  a  thousand,  we  would 
have  many  quarrels  and  fights  and  even  murders.'" 

"We  have  neither  quarrels,  fights  nor  murders,"  re- 
plied Mr.  Midith.  "  You  see  we  have  nothing  to  quar- 
rel about.  Whenever  the  individual  has  arrived  at 
such  a  stage  of  intellectual  culture  that  he  concedes 
the  right  to  all  of  his  companions  to  do  as  they  indi- 
vidually believe  to  be  right,  or  conduce  most  to  their 
happiness,  provided  they  invade  no  rights  of  any  other 
person,  there  can  be  no  quarrels,  fights  and  murders. 
This  is  the  only  point  we  need  learn  to  bring  about 
perfect  social  harmony.  Ouarrels,_  fights  and  murders 
are  the  results  of  ignorance  and  an  ill-adjusted  society. 
When  I  first  got  acquainted  with  your  small  family, 
huddled  together  in  one  or  a  few  little  rooms,  I  was 
not  surprised  to  find  that  people  here,  as  a  rule,  are  so 
cruel  and  quarrelsome.  The  old,  the  middle-aged,  and 
the  young  are  all  crowded  in  one  little  apartment.  Their 
natural  inclination,  on  account  of  age,  temperament, 
etc.,  is  very  unlike.  Yet  they  are  compelled  to  be  to- 
gether. With  us  every  man,  woman  and  child  has  a 
splendid  private  apartment,  to  which  they  can  retire  at 
any  moment.  No  one  intrudes  on  them  there.  Any 
one  can  leave  any  or  all  his  social  companions  when- 
ever he  pleases. 

"With  you  it  is  vastly  different.  How  many  ma- 
tured children,  when  living  in  the  same  house  and  in 
the  same  apartment,  make  your  homes  a  dungeon — a 
battle-field  on  which  the  better  sentiments  of  both  par- 
ents and  children  are  slain?  How  many  old  parents 
are  supported  by  their  sons  and   daughters  when  each 

other's  presence  is   no  more   agreeable?     How  many 
5. 


66  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

husbands  and  wives  are  compelled,  by  your  social  and 
industrial  system,  to  live  together  after  they  do  not 
love  each  other?  How  many  circumstances  are  there 
not  that  compel  your  so-called  masters  and  servants  to 
remain  together  after  they  dislike  each  other?  These 
and  many  other  unnatural,  disagreeable,  social  condi- 
tions produce  your  quarrels,  fights  and  murders. 

"Formerly  we  believed,  like  you  now  believe,  that  a 
family  could  not  exist  successfully  without  a  'boss.' 
But  experience  proved  to  us  that  we  were  mistaken. 
We  now  know  that  a  family  'boss'  is  nothing  but  a  curse 
and  a  creature  of  discord  only.  Just  in  proportion  as  we 
eliminate  the  vicious  social  conditions,  the  '  boss,' 
quarreling,  fighting  and  murdering  disappear. 

"I  think  we  have  a  good  proof  of  that  right  here  in 
this  home.  As  far  as  I  can  ascertain  there  is  no  'boss' 
in  Mr.  Uwins'  family.  All  the  members  of  the  family, 
as  far  as  I  can  see,  are  free  to  do  what  each  believes  to 
be  right.  The  kind  training,  the  equal  privileges,  and 
the  unrestricted  freedom  have  stamped  a  pleasant,  pre- 
possessing appearance  upon  the  countenance  of  parent 
and  child.  When  the  conditions  are  right,  a  thousand 
can  live  just  as  peaceably  together  under  one  roof  as 
two  can,  and  e\'en  more  so,  for  the  very  act  of  living  in 
small  families  like  you  do,  is  a  sign  that  the  conditions 
are  not  right;  and  as  long  as  the  social  and  industrial 
conditions  are  wrong,  there  can  be  no  right  society. 

"That  a  certain  advance  sogial  state  seems  unattain- 
able or  even  dangerous  may  not  be  a  sign  that  it  is  so. 
It  may  be  only  a  sign  that  those  who  think  it  injurious 
are  not  ripe  for  it  at  present — that  tlieir  intellectual 
culture  is  not  in  tune  with  such  a  life.  But  it  may  just 
suit  some  who  are  more  advanced  than  those  are  who 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  67 

claim  that  it  is  unattainable;  or  they,  in  time,  may  grow 
ripe  for  it  themselves. 

"Perhaps  our  primitive  ancestors  both  here  and  on 
Mars  were  cannibals,  and  they  no  doubt  believed  that 
the  desire  for  eating  human  flesh  would  never  be  elimi- 
nated, and  if  it  were  eliminated  the  world  would  then 
not  be  worth  living  in.     But  we  have  no  desire  to  eat 
human  flesh.     It  would  be  very  repugnant  to  us.     The 
contemporaries  of  your 'Holy  Inquisition'  no  doubt  be- 
lieved that  society  would  crumble  without  the  so-called 
protection  of  that  'Holy  Institution.'    But  we  know  from 
a  retrospective  view  that  it  was  a  very  cruel  enemy  of 
society.    Again,  your  civil  courts  that  convicted,  impris- 
oned, tortured    and  burned  thousand  upon  thousand  of 
innocent  people  as  witches  during  the  witch  mania,  un- 
doubtedly thought  that  a  person's  life  and  property  were 
not  safe  without  the  protection  or  intervention  of  these 
civil  tribunals;  but  we  now  know  that  the  more  witches 
you  killed  the  more  rapidly  they  increased,  and  that 
when  you  ceased  killing  them  they  all  soon  die  of  their 
own  accord.    We  know  that  there  never  was  a  witch ;  that 
this  belief  was  only  a  mental  illusion,  like  thousand  of 
your  present  beliefs  are;  and  we  also  know  that  the 
human  family,  with  the   advance   of  intelligence,  will 
gradually  adjust  itself  in  the  line  of  the  completest  life 
and  greatest  happiness." 


CHAPTER   V. 

WEALTH. 

"A  few  remarks  concerning  wealth  will  be  of  great 
value  in  helping  you  to  understand  what  you  requested 
me  to  tell  you  some  future  time,"  said  Mr.  Midith; 
"and  if  you  wish,  I  will  give  you  in  brief  the  Marsian 
idea  of  wealth,  before  we  proceed  to  our  afternoon 
work." 

Parents,  visitors  and  children  all  eagerly  desired 
Mr.  Midith  to  proceed,  which  he  did  thus: 

"The  Marsites  believe  that  genuine  wealth  consists: 
I.  Of  organized-self — a  sound  body  and  a  healthy,  vigor- 
ous 7ni?id.  2.  Of  material  \\&di\\h. — food,  clothing,  shelter, 
luxuries  and  the  instruments  of  their  production  and 
distribution — tools,  machinery,  factories,  railroads,  etc. 
And  3.  Of  ;//tv//<7/ wealth — thought,  love,  kindness,  the 
so-called  morality  and  freedom. 

"We  claim  that  all  wealth  comes,  either  directly 
or  indirectly, y9w;z  the  earth,  or  out  of  it  by  the  applica- 
tion of  labor,  and  that  only  which  is  produced  by  labor 
is  wealth,  and  belongs  exclusively  to  the  producer.  To 
illustrate,  the  material  composing  our  body  was  once 
inorganic  matter.  The  plant  organized  it.  We  eat, 
digest  and  assimilate  the  plant  out  of  which  our 
tissues  are  built.  The  crude  material  out  of  which  our 
clothes  are  made  is  produced  by  the  earth.  The  cotton 
plant  that  grows  on  the  earth  produced  the  cotton. 
The  sheep,  on  whose  back  the  wool  grows,  lives  on  the 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  69 

grass,  etc.,  which  is  produced  by  the  earth.  Our  books, 
houses,  shoes,  hats,  and  our  physical  organs,  which 
perform  their  wonderfully  complex  functions,  all  come, 
either  directly  or  indirectly,  out  of  the  earth,  air  and 
ocean  in  a  crude  form.  Then  they  are  shaped  by  the 
hand  of  labor  into  the  proper  form  and  become 
wealth. 

"By  labor  we  manufacture  clothes,  write  books, 
raise,  gather  and  lay  up  food,  build  houses,  construct 
railroads,  improve  land,  acquire  and  maintain  a  sound 
body  and  a  healthy,  cultivated  mind.  The  storehouse 
of  thought,  kindness,  love  and  freedom  is  also  filled  by 
labor  and  exertion.  All  these  mental  acquisitions  are 
therefore  constituent  parts  of  genuine  wealth— wealth 
of  the  most  precious  kind,  for  material  wealth  is  easily 
acquired  when  we  are  rich  in  faultless  organized-self 
and  in  mental  wealth. 

"The  air  we  breathe  is  not  wealth,  because  it  is 
not  produced  by  labor.  The  wild  apple  and  plum  on 
the  tree  are  not  wealth,  because  no  human  labor  has 
been  expended  in  the  production  of  them.  But  the 
picked  apple  of  the  same  tree,  in  the  hand  of  the  con- 
sumer, or  in  his  cellar  is  wealth;  he  picked  or  stored  it 
away  for  future  use,  which  required  labor.  Sunshine 
and  rain,  native  grass  and  water  in  its  native  bed  or 
channel,  are  not  wealth.  Land  in  its  natural  state  is 
not  wealth,  because  it  was  not  produced  by  labor. 
There  was  land  before  there  was  human  labor.  But  all 
improvement  made  on  land  by  labor  is  wealth  and  be- 
longs exclusively  to  the  person  who  made  the  improve- 
ment. 

"All    wealth,    then,   organized-self,    material    and 
mental,  comes  ultimately  out  of  the  inorganic  earth 


70  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE   INDIVIDUALISM. 

(air  and  water),  and  requires  labor  and  effort  to  produce 
them,  and  is  wealth  only  so  far  as  they  required  labor  in 
their  production." 

"Have  the  inhabitants  of  Mars  always  been  as 
wealthy  as  they  now  are?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"Oh,  no;  we  have  steadily  been  growing  richer  in 
all  the  component  parts  of  genuine  wealth.  Ages  ago 
our  world  was  poor  in  sound  bodies,  because  in  many 
cases  w^e  had  ill-health  on  account  of  overwork;  in 
other  cases  we  were  burdened  with  ill-health  for  lack 
of  proper  and  sufificient  exercise;  instill  other  cases  we 
did  not  enjoy  good  health  on  account  of  poor  and 
insufficient  subsistence.  Uncleanliness,  irregularity, 
licentiousness,  jealousy,  etc.,  were  other  causes  of  ill- 
health;  and  lastly,  perhaps,  all  had  inherited  a  more  or 
less  feeble  and  diseased  constitution,  consequent  from 
the  constant  violations  of  the  so-called  natural  laws  by 
our  numerous  successive  ancestors. 

"Under  our  former  monopolistic,  social  and  indus- 
trial system,  our  world  was  poor  in  material  wealth- 
food,  clothing,  shelter  and  luxuries.  Thousands  upon 
thousands  of  industrious  people  in  every  county  were 
forced  idlers,  and  consequently  poor  or  paupers  They 
were  hungry,  ragged,  cold  and  unclean.  Want  and  the 
fear  of  want  forced  them  to  work  so  hard  and  so  long 
daily  that  cleanliness  and  intellectual  culture  had  be- 
come a  burden  to  them.  They  were  merely  industrial 
slaves,  earning  the  material  wealth  for  the  rich  who 
spent  their  lives  largely  in  wasteful  idleness. 

"At  that  early  period,  then,  in  the  history  of  evolu- 
tion, when  our  social  and  industrial  system  was  as  de- 
fective as  your  present  one,  when  but  a  single  couple 
lived  together  in  a  small  house,  and  when  individual 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  /I 

efforts,  instead  of  voluntary  co-operation,  were  the 
recognized  methods  of  acquiring  wealth,  we  were  poor 
in  mental  wealth.  There  was  then  little  thought,  love, 
kindness  and  freedom.  We  met  with  ignorance, 
cruelty,  WTong,  superstition  and  slavery  of  some 
kind  in  all  directions.  Our  ancestors  blindly  trampled 
in  the  mire  the  best  portions  of  bodily  and  mental 
wealth,  while  they  were  only  in  pursuit  of  gold. 

"Under  the  old  social  and  industrial  system  there 
was  a  continual  fear  in  all  directions;  timid  thinking, 
avaricious  accumulation  of  gold,  industrial,  religious 
and  domestic  slavery,  antagonistic  strife,  jealous  feel- 
ings, disease,  ignorance,  crime  and  poverty.    , 

"There  can  be  very  little  true  love,  kindness  and 
prosperity  as  long  as  one  family,  sect,  party,  organiza- 
tion and  nation  endeavors  to  build  itself  up  by  tearing 
down  others.  Antagonism  involves  an  expenditure  of 
energy.  As  a  rule  your  banker's  child  is  forbidden  to 
play  and  associate  with  the  hod-carrier's.  The  Catholic 
disapproves  of,  and  often  despises  the  Protestant,  and 
the  Protestant  the  Catholic.  The  Christian,  the  Pagan 
and  vice  versa.  The  Republican  and  Democrat  con- 
demn each  other.  Instead  of  love,  kindness  and  har- 
mony, there  is  almost  universal  hatred  and  antagon- 
ism. 

"Gradually  and  slowly  we  learned  that,  under  such 
conditions,  we  were  poor  indeed!  During  the  lapse  of 
ages,  we  learned  by  sad  experience  that  all  good  acts 
contain  in  themselves  a  reward  of  happiness,  and  all 
bad  acts  contain  in  themselves  a  punishment  of  misery. 
By  a  continual  and  positive  reward  of  the  right,  and 
by  a  continual  and  positive  punishment  of  the  wrong 
did  we  at  last  learn  to  grope  our  way  from  the  old  an- 


72  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    IX'DIVIDUALISM. 

tagonistic  system  to  our  present  system  of  voluntary, 
co-operative  individualism. 

"From  my  foregoing  remarks  }'ou  will  easily  see 
t]iat  your  idea  of  wealth  and  that  of  the  Marsites  do 
not  correspond. 

"You  class  many  things  not  produced  by  labor  as 
wealth;  for  instance,  land  and  money  as  such.  We 
call  nothing  wealth  which  is  not  produced  by  labor. 
With  us  our  communities'  average  productive  labor  is  the 
basis  of  wealth.  Our  wealth  is  a  compound,  composed 
of  three  elements,  namely,  organized-self,  material 
wealth,  and  mental  wealth.  Wealth  as  considered  by 
your  masses  is  an  element  composed  of  material  wealth 
only — dollars,  houses,  books,  land,  railroads,  bonds,  etc. 

"You  call  a  person  rich  when  he  has  many  dollars, 
no  matter  what  his  other  attainments  and  surround- 
ings may  be.  Your  so-called  rich  men  may  be  the 
dupes  of  ignorance,  cruelty,  slavery  and  superstition; 
they  may  work  themselves  and  their  families  to  prema- 
ture graves;  they  may  scheme  the  bread  out  of  the 
mouths  of  the  still  more  ignorant  and  poverty-stricken 
ones;  they  may  be  surrounded  by  hovels  and  extreme 
ignorance  and  poverty;  they  may,  every  night,  be  in 
danger  of  being  robbed  and  murdered  by  their  cold, 
hungry  neighbors  who  may  be  forced  idlers,  and  still 
you  call  them  rich,  only  because  they  claim  to  own 
a  few  dollars.  We  believe  that  all  men  are  poor  who 
are  not  the  owners  of  a  healthy  body,  a  sound  mind, 
and  an  abundance  of  material  subsistence,  which  can 
be  obtained  only  in  a  world  where  all  are  compara- 
tively rich  in  this  kind  of  wealth. 

"According  to  your  idea  of  wealth,  avarice  is  a  sin, 
because  the  rich  accumulate  their  millions   by   robbing 


TPRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  73 

the  poor.  No  man  can  earn  a  million  dollars.  Ac- 
cording to  our  idea  of  wealth,  the  most  avaricious  per- 
son is  the  best,  for  he  equally  works  to  the  highest 
interest  and  good  of  himself  and  his  fellow-man.  No 
man,  in  our  opinion,  can  be  rich  in  a  poor,  ignorant 
world." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

LABOR. 

"Before  I  can  give  you  a  clear  description  of  the 
interior  of  the  'big-house,'  and  the  work  that  is  done 
in  it  by  the  inmates,  it  will  be  necessary  to  give 
you  a  brief  explanation  of  our  system  and  idea  of 
labor,"  continued  Mr.  Midith. 

"In  the  first  place  you  want  to  bear  in  mind  that 
our  day's  labor,  as  I  have  told  you  before,  is  very  short, 
in  an  average  less  than  two  hours  a  day;  but  there  is 
no  place  in  our  society  for  an  idler.  All  sound,  able- 
bodied  persons,  men,  women  and  children,  are  expect- 
ed to  work  at  some  suitable  productive  labor.  We 
teach  that  labor  is  necessary  and  honorable;  that  idle- 
ness is  robbery  and  a  disgrace.  Our  public  opinion 
shuns  an  idler  or  unproductive  laborer  as  much  as  you 
shun  a  burglar.  We  believe  that  a  proper  amount  of 
physical  labor  is  healthful,  that  it  is  essential  for  the 
highest  development  of  body  and  mind.  We  further 
believe  that  children  should  be  taught  to  labor  while 
young,  because  labor  becomes  pleasurable  only  when 
the  habit  of  laboring  is  acquired  during  childhood  and 
youth.  A  child  should  be  taught  to  be  independent, 
to  support  itself  by  agreeable,  healthful  labor  as  early 
as  possible,  for  many  reasons  which  I  will  tell  you  some 
other  time.  I  find  here  on  earth  that  many  parents  be- 
lieve that  manual  labor  is  a  disgrace.     W^ith   us,    you 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  75 

will  notice,  it  is  just  the  reverse.  We  believe  that  a 
parent  who  does  not  teach  a  child  to  labor  while  it  is 
young  is  the  child's  greatest  enemy,  for  such  a  child 
will  be  a  slave  to  labor  ever  after. 

"We  classify  labor  as  productive,  unproductive  and 
destructive.  When  I  speak  of  labor  here,  I  mean  that 
kind  of  labor  only  which  is  expended  in  the  pursuit  of 
acquiring  the  material  subsistence;  and  in  the  rearing 
of  offspring  I  include  only  the  /<?z7.j^;;/£' exertions,  not  the 
sportive  exercises.  Plowing,  sowing,  reaping,  cooking 
washing,  planting,  digging  a  needful  well,  mining  iron, 
building  a  house,  making  a  coat,  writing  a  useful  book, 
running  an  engine,  holding  and  carrying  a  baby  beyond 
a  certain  length  of  time,  etc.,  arc  examples  oi  productive 
labor.  Productive  labor,  then,  as  here  restricted,  is 
that  kind  of  labor  which  adds  to  the  aggregate  amount 
of  the  community's  material  wealth  in  the  form 
of  food,  clothing,  shelter  and  luxuries,  or  that 
which  is  expended  in  the  rearing  of  offspring.  After  a 
productive  day's  labor,  the  world  is  richer  in  material 
wealth  than  it  was  before.  The  day's  labor  must  have 
produced  something.  It  must  have  augmented  not 
only  the  labor's  individual  wealth,  but  the  aggregate 
wealth  of  the  world. 

''Unproductive  labor  is  that  kind  which  neither  tends 
to  produce  nor  destroy  material  wealth.  No  amount 
of  unproductive  labor  produces  food  for  a  single  meal. 
To  be  digging  wells  where  there  is  no  need  for  water; 
to  carry  a  brick  to  and  fro  from  one  place  to  another; 
to  plant  a  potato  for  the  sake  of  planting;  to  plow  a 
field  and  not  sow  and  harvest  it;  to  build  a  house  and 
not  utilize  it;  to  mine  coal  and  not  use  it;  to  gamble, 
etc.,  are  examples  of  unproductive  labor.     No  matter  how 


76  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM, 

much  the  laborer  perspires,  how  long  and  how  toilsome 
a  day  he  makes,  how  diligent  and  honest  he  may  be, 
all  his  efforts  and  toil  expended  in  this  manner  do 
not  add  one  iota  to  the  aggregate  material  wealth  of  the 
nation  or  of  the  world. 

''Destructive  labor  is  that  kind  of  labor  which 
actually  destroys  wealth,  which,  we  have  seen,  can  be 
produced  only  hy  prodiictive  labor. 

"For  examples:  A  soldier  tearing  up  or  otherwise 
destroying  railroads;  a  burglar  exploding  a  safe;  an 
army  burning  a  city;  a  miner  mining  iron  that  is  to  be 
manufactured  into  a  gun  with  which  life  and  property 
are  to  be  destroyed;  a  malicious  destruction  of  a  tree  or 
useful  plant,  etc.,  etc. 

"We  can  plainly  see  that  if  we  should  all  engage  in 
destructive  labor,  all  the  material  wealth  would  soon  be 
destroyed,  and  the  more  industrious  we  would  be  in 
the  expenditure  of  destructive  labor,  the  less  material 
wealth  we  would  have  left.  Idleness  is  a  virtue  as  com- 
pared with  destructive  labor. 

"Perhaps  more  than  three-fourths  oi your  labor  here 
on  earth  is  either  comparatively  unproductive  or  de- 
structive. Nearly  all  your  fencing,  banking,  mining 
gold  for  money,  speculating,  soldiering,  three-fourths 
of  your  so-called  mercantile  business,  your  sectarian 
preaching  and  teaching,  all  your  political  scheming, 
manufacturing  and  selling  liquor  and  tobacco  are  un- 
productive or  destructive.  Besides  these  few  cases 
that  I  have  mentioned  there  are  countless  other  ways 
in  which  you  expend  a  vast  amount  of  unproductive 
and  destructive  labor,  which  I  can  not  now  make  you 
clearly  understand,  but  which  you  will  see  hereafter  as 
we  compare  our  social  and  industrial  system  with  yours. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  ']'] 

"By  the  foregoing  explanation  we  see  that  an  m- 
diistrious  person  is  not  necessarily  -a.  producer.  One  may 
be  as  industrious  in  the  destruction  of  wealth  as  in  the 
production  of  it.  A  millionaire,  who  labors  to  accumu- 
late, by  some  scheme,  the  wealth  that  others  have  earned, 
to  augment  his  individual  fortune,  is  an  unproductive 
or  destructive  laborer,  not  a  productive  one.  He  robs 
some  person  and  thereby  makes  the  world  worse.  His 
object  is  not  to  earn,  but  to  appropriate  what  others  have 
already  earned  or  produced.  It  is  not  always  easy  in 
your  system  to  determine  whether  a  certain  kind  of 
labor  is  productive,  unproductive,  or  destructive.  In- 
telligence, the  basis  of  all  activity,  is  the  only  criterion 
that  can  determine  it." 

"Do  the  Marsites  all  work  only  at  productive 
labor?"  asked  Mr.  Uwins. 

"Yes,"  replied  Mr.  Midith.  "We  gradually  elim- 
inated all  unproductive  and  destructive  labor  as  our 
social  and  industrial  system  advanced. 

"But  allow  me,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  to  tell  you 
right  here,  there  is  one  other  point  in  connection  with 
labor  that  I  shall  have  to  speak  to  you  about,  in  order 
to  give  you  a  clear  understanding  of  our  idea  of  labor, 
and  that  point  is  this:  not  all  human  exertion,  whether 
performed  on  earth  or  on  Mars,  is  considered  laborious 
or  toilsome.  For  instance,  the  beating  of  the  heart, 
eating,  breathing,  voluntary  conversation,  a  ride  or 
walk  for  recreation,  pursuing  a  favorite  study  or 
occupation,  shopping  as  you  call  it,  entertaining  a 
welcome  friend,  being  engaged  in  a  certain  kind  of 
fancy  work,  are  not  considered  even  by  you  as  toil- 
some  labor.      They   have   either    become    delightful 


78  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

exercises,  or  they  have  lost  their  conscious  sensitive- 
ness all  together,  like  the  beating  of  the  heart,  etc. 

"All  well  organized  persons  find  delight  in  being 
ahvays  engaged  in  some  active,  physical  or  mental 
pursuits,  during  their  waking  hours.  Absolute  quietude 
and  idleness  are  very  burdensome  to  them.  So,  too,  is 
excessive  labor  toilsome  to  them.  But  by  the  aid  and 
improvement  of  our  machinery,  by  shortening  the 
day  of  manual  labor,  by  acquiring  the  habit  of  working 
while  young,  by  receiving  a  large  return  for  labor,  by 
laboring  in  company  with  pleasant  companions,  by 
having  all  the  necessary  and  convenient  tools,  by  be- 
coming continually  more  and  more  proficient  in  our 
occupation,  by  appreciating  with  a  keener,  esthetic 
sense  the  improved  products  of  an  advancing  industry, 
and  by  laboring  more  and  more  under  individual 
freedom,  all  exertions  tend  to  pass  from  the  sphere  of 
toilsome  labor  into  the  sphere  of  delightful,  sportive 
exercise,  and  this  change  will,  no  doubt,  continue  until 
a  complete  adjustment  is  effected. 

"You  see  our  machinery  and  tools  are  so  perfect  and 
easily  manipulated,  our  conveniences  so  complete,  our 
day's  manual  labor  so  short,  our  return  of  labor  so 
abundant,  our  company  so  pleasant,  our  choice  of 
occupation  so  free,  our  liberty  so  unimpaired,  our 
esthetic  sense  so  keen,  that  nearly  all  our  work  has 
passed  into  play,  and  is  almost  as  delightful  and 
pleasant  to  us  as  activity  is  to  a  child. 

"With  you  things  are  just  the  reverse.  Your 
machinery  is  not  so  perfect,  your  tools  are  not  so  handy, 
your  conveniences  for  labor  are  very  few,  your  day  of 
manual  labor  is  so  long  and  toilsome,  your  returns  go 
largely  to  the  rich  idlers  or  unproductive  labors,  your 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALS^.  79 

companions  are  often  rival  enemies,  your  occupation 
whatever  you  can  get  to  do,  your  overseer  a  cruel,  heart- 
less tyrant,  your  appreciations  for  accomplishments 
have  been  withered  by  anxiety  and  poverty.  Nothing 
but  the  bare  necessity  of  acquiring  the  material  sub- 
sistence for  a  meager  livelihood  spurs  you  on  to  your 
almost  unendurable  and  endless  toil,  which  generally 
lasts  until  the  premature  grave  entombs  the  remains  o'f 
your  worn-out,  lifeless  body.  Under  your  sad  social  and 
industrial  arrangement,  it  is  no  wonder  that  you  dishonor 
labor,  that  you  endeavor  by  all  schemes  to  escape  that 
endless  tread-mill  of  toil  to  which  you  are  generally 
hitched  for  life  by  the  tugs  of  cruelty,  want  of  knowl- 
edge and  superstition, 

"It  is  now  time  for  our  afternoon  work,  and,  when- 
ever hereafter  I  tell  you  anything  about  our  wealth 
and  labor,  always  endeavor  to  think  of  them  as  they 
are  considered  by  the  Marsites,  and  not  as  you  look  at 
wealth  and  labor  here.  Always  bear  in  mind  that 
organized-self  and  mental  wealth  are  necessary  con- 
stituents of  our  genuine  wealth,  and  that  the  old  toil- 
some labor  has  almost  completely  passed  into  delight- 
ful sportive  exercise." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

INTERIOR    OF    "BIG-HOUSE." 

After  tea,  about  five  o'clock,  we  were  once  more 
seated  together  on  Mr.  Uwins'  beautiful  green,  shady 
lawn  to  listen  to  Mr.  Midith's  pleasing  description  of 
the  Marsian  "big-house." 

"Do  you  recollect,  Mr.  Midith,  telling  us  at  noon 
that  you  would  give  us  a  more  detailed  description  of 
the  interior  of  the  'big-house?'  "asked  Mrs. Uwins.  "We 
shall  now  be  pleased  to  give  you  our  attention  on  that 
subject." 

"Yes;  we  will  all  listen  to  you,  Mr.  Midith,"  said 
little  Celestine,  sitting  very  near  him. 

"There  is  so  much  to  be  told  that  I  scarcely  know 
where  to  begin,"  said  Mr,  Midith;  "and  when  I 
draw  a  clear,  vivid  picture  of  those  grand,  colossal 
structures  in  my  imagination,  it  seems  almost  as  though 
I  once  more  enjoyed  my  native  world,  my  native  home, 
and  my  native  society,  for  which,  perhaps,  in  every 
stage  of  intellectual  development,  a  person's  heart, 
who  has  been  deprived  of  them,  will  yearn, 

"I  have  already  told  you  at  noon  that  a  'big-house' 
is  about  eight  stories  high;  that  it  accommodates  about 
a  thousand  inmates — men,  women  and  children;  that 
the  'big-houses'  are  located  about  half-mile  apart  on 
the  motor-lines  all  around,  the  rectangular  communi- 
ties twenty-four  miles  long  and  usually  six  miles  wide 

80 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  8l 

(see  p.  115).  This  arrangement  gives  us  two  tiers  of 
'big-houses'  with  a  motor-line  between  them.  As  these 
'big-houses'  are  built  opposite  each  other,  two  and  two, 
each  of  these  motor  stopping  places  furnishes  a  popu- 
lation of  about  two  thousand.  At  every  'big-house'  is 
a  motor-line  side-track,  which  holds  a  train  of  motor 
cars  for  unloading.  The  freight  cars  are  elevated  and 
lowered  with  electric  power  to  those  stories  of  the 
building  where  the  freight  is  to  be  unloaded.  All 
goods  used  and  consumed  in  the  '  big-houses '  are 
unloaded  here  with  very  little  muscular  power.  Here, 
then,  we  economize  a  vast  amount  of  human  labor,  and 
so  in  all  other  directions.  By  the  time  I  shall  have 
told  you  all  about  our  social  and  industrial  system,  you 
will  no  longer  be  astonished  that  we  have  such  an 
abundance  of  grand  things,  all  with  less  than  two 
hours  of  labor  a  day." 

"Does  not  the  smoke  of  your  engines  sometimes 
annoy  you?"  asked  Mr.  Uwins.  "In  our  cities  it  is  often 
very  annoying." 

"That  is  very  true,  Mr.  Uwins,"  replied  Mr.  Midith, 
"but  you  see  we  have  no  cities;  we  have  no  use  for 
them.  We  also  have  no  stcaui  engines  to  create  smoke; 
even  the  latest  steam  engines  we  used  burned  their 
own  smoke,  and  that  is  nothing  new  even  to  your 
modern  mechanics.  Your  latest  engines  do  that  too. 
It  is  a  grand  step  in  advance,  but  we  are  now  long  be- 
yond that  point.  The  Marsites  now  use  electric  and 
compressed  air  engines.  The  power  is  furnished  by 
the  wind.  Our  present  engines,  then,  require  no  fuel 
and  produce  no  smoke.  Hereafter  I  shall  tell  you 
much  more  about  our  engines  and  other  motive  power. 
Our  engine  and  engine-room,  as  well  as  all  other  de- 


82  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

partments,  are  kept  as  neat  and  clean  as  any  parlor. 
We  have  learned  that  it  pays  to  be  clean  and  orderly. 
Each  particular  work  is  done  by  a  particular  man, 
woman,  or  child,  who  pride  themselves  in  doing  it 
promptly,  orderly  and  well. 

"The  main  edifice  of  the  'big-house,'  as  I  have  said, 
is  about  eight  stories  high,  and  sometimes  higher. 
There  are  electric  elevators  in  different  parts  of  the 
building.  Some  of  them  run  vertically  from  the  bot- 
tom to  the  top,  and  some  of  them  run  horizontally  from 
end  to  end  of  the  building.  The  kitchen  is  a  large, 
clean,  well-ventilated  apartment  with  plenty  of  first- 
class  cooks  and  bakers.  The  cooking  and  baking  is 
all  done  by  electric  heat,  generated  by  the  engine.  The 
cooks  can  put  on -as  much  or. as  little  heat  as  they 
desire.  We  can  boil  potatoes  in  closed  vessels  in  less 
than  five  minutes  of  time." 

"Is  not  your  kitchen  work  of  handling  those  large 
kettles  that  hold  sufificient  to  feed  a  thousand  persons 
or  more,  too  laborious  for  a  feeble,  sickly  woman?" 
asked  Viola. 

Mr.  Midith  laughed  and  said:  "Viola,  you  must 
understand  in  the  first  place,  that  we  have  no  feeble, 
sickly  women  in  our  world.  Feebleness  and  disease 
are  the  consequences  of  antecedent  causes,  and  as  soon 
as  the  causes  are  removed,  feebleness  will  turn  into 
strength  and  disease  will  disappear.  We  have  long 
ago  eliminated  those  social  and  industrial  evils  that 
enfeeble  and  that  fade  the  pallid  cheeks  of  your 
women,  and  especially  of  your  mothers.  And  in  the 
second  place,  the  kettles  and  all  other  cooking  utensils 
are  lifted  and  adjusted  by  machinery,  which  is  so  con- 
venient that  a  child  can  easily  operate  it  in  most  cases. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  83 

Helping  to  prepare  one  meal  in  such  a  pleasant,  con- 
venient kitchen  constitutes  a  day's  work  for  a  cook, 
whether  man  or  woman.  Other  sets  of  cooks  likewise 
prepare  the  other  meals  of  the  day. 

"Each  division  of  the  kitchen,  as  well  as  all  other  de- 
partments of  labor,  has  a  foreman,  who  holds  his  posi- 
tion by  the  common  consent  of  his  co-laborers  in  the 
same  division,  and  by  virtue  of  his  superior  fitness  in 
his  own  work  and  in  directing  the  labor  of  all  in  the 
most  productive,  harmonious  and  delightful  channel. 
The  foreman  labors  just  the  same  as  any  one  else.  He 
receives  no  higher  pay.  He  is  only  foreman  in  so  far 
as  his  co-laborers  are  willing  to  acknowledge  him  or 
her  as  such. 

"Here,  again,  you  see  how  we  economize  material 
wealth  and  labor  by  our  voluntary  co-operation,  and 
you  further  see  that  our  work  is  little  more  than  sport- 
ive exercise.  Instead  of  being  laborious  as  you  thought, 
a  cook  with  us,  whether  man  or  woman,  does  nearly  all 
her  work  by  machinery,  run  by  electric  power.  This 
she  can  generally  do  by  sitting  in  an  easy  chair  in  her 
elegant  kitchen,  which  is  kept  scrupulously  clean  by  a 
set  of  dusters  and  wipers  who  have  chosen  that  as  their 
favorite  occupation.  She  has  no  black,  sooty  kettles  to 
handle,  because  the  heat  .she  uses  to  cook  with  does 
neither  blacken  her  kitchen  nor  her  kettles.  She  is 
always  neatly  dressed,  can  even  wear  delicate  gloves 
most  the  time  if  she  so  desires,  and  has  all  the  pleasant 
companions,  both  male  and  female,  whose  company  she 
can  enjoy  as  she  is  doing  her  short  day's  work.  With 
men  cooks  it  is,  of  course,  the  same. 

"Compare  this  short,  easy,  pleasant   day's  work   of 
our  cooks  with  the  long,  toilsome,  unpleasant  drudgery 


84  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

of  your  women,  who  must  prepare  all  the  meals,  often 
out  of  the  very  poorest  material;  who,  besides  prepar- 
ing meals,  must  bear  and  nurse  all  the  offspring,  and 
work  at  other  drudgery,  generally  from  ten  to  sixteen 
hours  a  day.  And  this  is  very  often  not  all.  Many 
mothers,  besides  doing  all  this  physical  drudgery  in  a 
little  penned-up  house,  in  which  an  invigorating  breath 
of  wholesome  air  seldom  enters,  are  called  upon  to 
please  and  satisfy  an  overworked,  cranky  'boss'  of  a 
husband,  and  sometimes  ignorant,  uncultivated  sons 
and  daughters.  This  overwork  is  one  of  the  many 
causes  that  enfeeble  your  women,  and  that  spread  the 
robe  of  pallor  and  disease  over  their  countenance.  I 
say  this  is  only  one  of  the  many  causes  that  produce 
feebleness  and  disease,  but  besides  this  one  there  are 
countless  others.  To  some  of  the  most  conspicuous 
ones  I  shall  call  your  attention  as  we  proceed  with  our 
explanation.  Now,  I  do  not  mean  to  say  here  that 
your  7nai,  as  a  rule,  are  not  overworked,  for  they  are 
very  much  so;  but  not  so  much  so  as  the  masses  of 
mothers  who  are  raising  families." 

"Now,  Mr.  Midith,  will  you  give  us  a  description  of 
your  dining-room?"  asked  Celcstine. 

"Oh,  yes.  Our  dining  apartment  is  spacious,  richly 
finished  and  elegantly  furnished.  It  is  large  enough  to 
seat  at  once  all  the  members  of  the  family  and  a  con- 
siderable number  of  visitors  besides.  Each  table  ac- 
commodates from  two  to  eight  persons,  and  the  tables 
are  tastefully  arranged  in  tiers  alongside  of  horizontal 
elevators,  that  carry  the  victuals  from  the  kitchen  all 
along  the  row  of  tables  to  the  further  end  of  the  din- 
ing-hall,  where  they  are  served  by  the  waiters.  On 
the  center  of  each  table  is  a  tiny  fountain,  playing  its 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  85 

cool  liquid  treasure  on  an  exquisite  assortment  of 
gorgeous  bouquets.  This  chemically  pure,  fresh,  cool 
fountain  also  supplies  the  drink  for  the  table.  The 
tableware  is  of  the  finest  pattern,  and  everything  is  kept 
scrupulously  clean  and  in  good  order  by  those  in  charge 
of  the  dining-hall. 

"We  are  purely  vegetarians,  eating  no  flesh  meat 
of  any  kind.  Of  course  our  primitive  ancestors,  like 
yours,  were  cannibals;  then  meat-eaters  like  you  are 
now,  but  this  habit  of  killing  and  eating  flesh  meat  has 
long  since  become  antiquated,  and  eating  flesh  meat  or 
a  dead  carcass  is  perhaps  as  repugnant  to  us  now  as 
eating  a  corpse  would  be  to  you.  We  also  use  no  coffee, 
tea,  tobacco,  nor  any  kind  of  intoxicating  liquor  as  a 
beverage.  Experience  has  taught  us  that  no  benefit  is 
derived  from  the  use  of  them;  but  often  a  great  deal  of 
evil. 

"Our  cooking  is  all  of  first-class  order;  none  but  ex- 
pert cooks  of  the  community  make  cooking  their  pro- 
fession. The  tables  are  loaded,  winter  and  summer, 
with  the  finest  soups,  vegetables,  fruits  both  cooked 
and  raw,  and  all  kinds  of  nuts.  Some  of  the  eatables 
are  shipped  in  from  tropical  countries  and  some  are 
raised  during  the  winter  months  in  our  large  conser- 
vatories and  green-houses,  of  which  I  shall  tell  you 
hereafter.  Our  baking  is  of  endless  variety,  and  of  the 
finest  quality  the  genius  of  man  can  produce. 

"All  meals  are  served  promptly  on  time,  and  no  pro- 
visions are  made  for  any  one  who  is  not  on  time  for  his 
meals.  Every  one  is  supposed  to  eat  at  whatever  big- 
house  he  happens  to  be  during  meal-time,  for  he  can 
buy  a  meal  as  cheap  in  any  big-house  where  he  may  be, 
as  he  can  at  his  own  table. 


86  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIsVE    INDIVIDUALISri. 

"The  victuals  at  each  table  are  served  in  common 
dishes,  which  are  passed,  and  each  helps  himself  the 
same  as  you  generally  do  in  your  family  home.  We 
have  no  hotels,  because  we  have  no  use  for  any,  A 
traveler,  while  he  is  traveling,  cats  in  the  dining  car; 
and  when  he  gets  off  he  stops  at  a  'big-house,'  for  they 
are  the  only  stopping  places  we  have,  and  when  there 
he  can  either  eat  a  regular  meal  in  the  dining-hall,  or 
he  can  at  any  time  order  anything  he  wants  in  the  res- 
taurant, 

"Every  single  meal  is  paid  for,  and  each  one  pays 
for  his  own  meal,  whether  he  be  a  man,  woman  or 
child,  whether  a  visitor  or  a  member  of  the  same  fam- 
ily. After  every  meal,  each  individual  deposits  the 
price  of  the  meal  into  his  pay-dish — a  little  dish  which 
is  kept  at  each  plate  for  that  special  purpose.  After 
meal-time,  the  waiters,  who,  like  the  cooks,  do  nothing 
else  but  waiting  on  the  tables,  take  charge  of  the 
pay  which  is  deposited  in  the  pay-dishes.  The  pay- 
dishes  automatically  register  every  meal  deposited, 
and  at  the  close  of  the  year,  or  at  any  other  time,  we 
can  tell  by  the  common  register  just  how  many  meals 
have  been  eaten  in  the  dining-hall  during  the  year," 

"You  said,  Mr.  Midith,  that  every  man,  woman  and 
child  pays  for  his  own  meal.  But  how  can  a  little 
child  that  has  no  money  pay  for  its  own  meals?"  asked 
Roland. 

"That  is  very  easily  done  when  you  understand  how 
it  is  worked.  You  see  our  financial  world  is  altogether 
different  from  yours,  which  I  will  explain  to  you  when 
we  get  to  our  system  of  money  or  medium  of  exchange. 

"Let  us,  in  a  few  words,  compare  our  dining-hall 
with  yours.     With  our  system  th&re  is  no  food  wasted 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  8/ 

by  leaving  it  on  side-dishes,  for  we  do  not  use  them 
in  the  same  manner  as  you  do.  We  object  to  them 
on  the  ground  that  the  eater — the  only  person  who 
knows  what  he  likes  and  what  he  wants — does  not 
do  the  dishing  up,  when  side-dishes  filled  by  the  cooks 
are  used.  In  your  so-called  first-class  hotels,  there  is 
perhaps  as  much,  if  not  more, .  good  food  left  in  the 
side-dishes  on  the  tables  as  is  eaten.  Your  bill  of  fare 
system  is  also  very  wasteful.  When  it  is  used,  cooks 
must  prepare  a  great  variety  of  articles,  for  some  of 
which,  perhaps,  no  one  calls;  for  others  there  are  more 
calls,  but  there  is  a  tendency  of  great  waste.  In  our 
system  of  eating  there  is  also  very  little  waste  of  food 
from  cooking  too  much  at  a  meal.  The  cooks  know 
about  how  much  is  needed  at  each  meal  for  the  fainily, 
and  that  is  about  all  the  family  cooks  for,  unless  a  con- 
siderable number  of  visitors  have  ordered  meals  there. 
Visitors,  as  I  have  said,  always  pay  the  same  price  for 
a  meal  as  a  member  of  the  family  does.  Eveiy  able- 
bodied  man,  woman  and  youth  believes  in,  and  prac- 
tices independence  and  self-maintenance.  We  all 
detest  assistance  and  protection  from  others. 

"Much  of  the  food  cooked  in  your  hotels  is  also  not 
eaten  because  the  expected  number  of  guests  did  not  eat 
there  at  that  meal.  There  is  no  way  for  a  hotel-cook  to 
know  how  much  to  cook.  The  eating  at  hotels  is  all 
uncertainty  and  irregularity.  There  may  be  many  or 
there  may  be  none  for  dinner.  We  have  no  rich  idlers 
who  live  upon  the  labor  of  others,  and  who  waste  more 
food  than  they  eat;  and  we  have  no  starving  poor  who 
would  be  glad  to  get  the  leavings.  With  us  all  able- 
bodied  persons  must  earn  their  meals  by  productive 


88  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    IXDIVIDUALISM. 

labor.  No  amount  of  speculation  and  scheming  in  our 
world  will  ever  secure  a  meal  for  any  one. 

"In  our  s}'stem  of  eating  and  cooking,  as  compared 
with  yours,  there  is  also  an  immense  saving  of  labor 
and  food  on  account  of  our  being  purely  vegetarians; 
for  the  production  of  flesh  meat  requires  in  an  average 
much  more  land  and  labor  than  the  production  of  the 
same  amount  of  nutrition  in  vegetation.  You  waste 
annually  more  than  a  thousand  million  dollars  worth 
of  labor,  even  as  low  as  your  wages  are  now,  in  the 
production  of  tobacco  and  intoxicating  liquor, which,  ac- 
cording to  your  own  most  distinguished  physiologists,  is 
far  more  injurious  than  beneficial  to  the  human  system. 
Right  here,  I  believe,  is  another  of  the  great  causes 
which  is  instrumental  in  the  production  of  your  crimes, 
cruelty  and  disease. 

"Our  manner  of  eating  is  considerably  different 
from  yours,  which  I  will  explain  to  you  when  we  get  to 
our  system  of  education.  We  endeavor  to  build  all 
our  habits  and  customs  on  the  so-called  laws  of  life, 
health  and  happiness.  Every  act  that  conduces  to  the 
fullness  of  them  we  consider  right,  and  every  act  that 
detracts  from  the  fullness  of  them  we  consider  wrong. 

"Every  'big-house'  contains  a  large,  magnificent 
restaurant,  which  is  artistically  embellished  by  the 
hand  of  art,  and  splendidly  furnished  with  elaborate 
counters,  fine  tables,  easy  chairs,  grand  mirrors  and 
all  other  furniture  that  conduces  to  the  ease  and  com- 
forts of  man.  It  is  lit  up,  when  dark,  with  brilliant 
electric  lights,  which  almost  rival  the  brilliancy  of  a 
cloudless  noon-day  sun.  In  this  gorgeous  apartment  all 
kinds  of  eatables,  from  the  daintiest  to  the  coarser  that 
our  world  produces,  can  be  bought  there  at  cost  by  all 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  89 

individuals  who  may  wish  them,  during  any  hour  of  the 
day  and  evening.  Our  regular  meals,  as  I  said  before, 
are  served  promptly  on  time;  but,  by  the  aid  of  this 
restaurant,  no  one  need  go  hungry  for  a  single  minute. 
In  our  world  no  one  pays  for  meals  that  he  does  not  eat, 
except  to  the  helpless,  and  no  one  gets  anything  for 
nothing,  unless  it  is  voluntarily  given  to  him.  As  our 
day's  labor  is  only  about  two  hours,  so  the  cooks  and 
waiters  change  off  about  that  often. 

"After  meals  the  dishes  of  both  the  dining-hall 
and  restaurant  are  put  into  a  dishwashing  machine, 
through  which  a  powerful  current  of  steam  and  hot 
water  containing  chemicals  pass  for  a  few  moments; 
then  a  current  of  hot  air  passes  through  it,  which  dries 
the  dishes  in  a  few  minutes.  Our  ladies  never  put 
their  hands  in  water  to  wash  dishes.  Our  large  families 
can  have  such  conveniences,  but  your  small  families 
can  not  afford  to  have  such  dishwashers." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

INTERIOR    OF    THE    "  BIG-HOUSE." 

[  Co7iti?med.  ] 

"  I  think  I  shall  take  my  supper  this  evening  in 
your  elegant  restaurant,  which  you  have  just  described, 
if  I  can  find  some  one  to  take  me!"  exclaimed  Viola. 
"  I  am  only  too  sorry  that  it  is  so  far  off." 

"  But  let  me  tell  you.  Miss  Viola,  in  our  world  you 
would  not  wait  for  some  one  to  take  you,  if  you  desired 
to  go  anywhere.  You  would  start  whenever  you  felt 
like  it,  either  alone  or  in  company  with  others,  just  as 
it  happens.  A  woman  in  our  world  is  as  free  and  inde- 
pendent to  go  any  and  all  places  as  a  man  is.  She 
earns  as  much  with  her  day's  labor  as  a  man  does,  and 
is  therefore  not  financially  dependent  on  any  man,  as 
you  will  readily  see  by  an  explanation  of  our  monetary 
system  some  future  time." 

"  How  do  you  do  your  laundry  work?  "  asked  Mrs. 
Uwins.  "  I  suppose  that  is  done  on  the  same  large, 
easy  scale  as  all  your  other  work." 

"  Our  laundry  contains  a  powerful  steam  washing- 
machine,  which  is  capable  of  washing  the  garments  of 
the  whole  family  in  less  than  an  hour's  time,  and  almost 
without  the  aid  of  a  human  hand.  It  contains  a  drying 
room,  in  which  the  wash  is  dried  in  a  few  minutes. 
Electric  irons  do  the  ironing.  To  wash,  dry  and  iron 
the  garments  of  a  thousand  men,  women  and  children 

90 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  QI 

requires  the  labor  of  only  a  few  persons  for  a  very 
short  time.  Every  one  pays  for  his  own  washing,  and 
can  get  as  much  of  it  done  as  he  wants.  The  laundry 
work  is  all  done  by  experts.  We  wash  every  day,  for 
every  dsy  we  bathe  and  change  clothes  after  our  day's 
work  is  done. 

"In  this  laundry  department  we  economize  an  im- 
mense amount  of  labor  by  co-operation,  and  doubtless 
conduces  vastly  to  our  average  health,  which  is  with  you 
very  often  impaired  by  overwork,  and  by  contracting 
cold  when  an  overheated  washer  hangs  out  the  clothes. 
Here,  with  you,  each  small  family  must  have  a  washing 
apparatus,  even  if  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  sickly 
woman's  hands.  Each  has  a  clothes-line,  on  which  the 
clothes  wear  perhaps  nearly  as  much  by  drying  as  by 
bodily  wear.  Each  keeps  a  number  of  flat-irons,  which 
are  mostly  operated  by  the  muscles  of  an  over-heated 
woman,  many  ot  whom  are  engaged  in  hard  work  for 
more  than  twelve  hours  a  day.  In  your  society  a 
washer-woman  is  looked  upon  as  an  inferior.  In  our 
society  she  stands  equal  with  the  highest.  No  wonder 
that  with  you  all  try  to  avoid  the  profession  of  being  a 
washer-woman.  No  wonder  that  many  of  your  women 
prefer  to  live  a  life  of  shame  and  degradation,  which 
brings  them  a  hell  during  life  and  a  premature  death. 
Hard,  hard  work  and  little  pay!  It  is  easily  seen  why  it  is 
considered  a  hard,  degraded  position  here.  It  is  easily 
seen,  too,  why  so  many  filthy  garments  are  worn  in 
your  society,  when  we  contemplate  how  few  of  you 
have  water  fit  to  wash  with;  how  many  of  the  poorer 
classes  who  are  too  poor  to  buy  the  necessary  soap; 
how  inconvenient  your  laundry  and  drying  apparatus 
are;  how  laborious  your  ironing.     It  is  no  wonder  that 


92  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

many  wear  undergarments  for  a  week,  two  weeks,  and 
even  three  weeks,  without  changing  them. 

"  Next  I  may  give   you  a  description  of  our  store, 
which  is  located  in  a  convenient  place  in   each  'big- 
house.'     It  is    a  very    capacious  department.     Every- 
thing is  kept  as  clean  and  orderly  as  the  finest  drawing- 
room.     All  commodities  that  an  individual  might  want 
to  buy  are  kept  for  sale  there.    The  different  classes  of 
goods  have  each  a  certain  division  of  this  department. 
All  the  financial  business  of  the  members  of  the  family 
is  either  directly  or  indirectly  transacted  in  this  depart- 
ment.    Meal  tickets,  barber  tickets,  restaurant  tickets, 
etc.,  are  sold  in  this  store-department.     Of  course,  you 
understand  by  this  time  that  everything  in  our  world  is 
sold  at  cost.     The  clerks  receive  pay  for  their  work  the 
same  as  an  engineer  or  miner.     We  have  no  profit^  as 
you  will  see  when  we  get  to  our  mercantile  system. 
Profit  results  from  monopoly,  and  we  have  no  monopoly 
and  hence  no  profit.     The  profit  system  is  one  of  the 
greatest  evils  of  your  industrial  world.     Some  of  your 
economists    condemn  your   competitive  system.     But 
competition  is  as  natural,  necessary  and  beneficial  to 
the   welfare   and   progress   of   mankind  as  the  unob- 
structed natural  law  of  supply  and  demand  is  essential 
for  an  economic  regulation  of  production  and  consump- 
tion.    By  profit  a  person   may  be  able  to  live  an  idle 
life;  may  have  others  produce  his  food,  clothing,  shel- 
ter  and  luxuries  for  him.     By  competition,  a  person 
must  always  work.     Monopoly,  from  which  all  profit, 
etc.,  accrues,  and  not  competition,  is  that  great  enemy 
of  the  human  race. 

"  On  some  more  convenient  topic  I  shall  endeavor 
to  show  you  that  your  profit  system  does  not  only  ena- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  93 

ble  certain  persons  to  live  from  the  labor  of  others,  but 
it  also  tends  to  make  them  dishonest  and  cruel." 

"I  have  long  ago  arrived  at  the  same  conclusions 
about  our  profit  system,"  said  Mr.  Uwins.  "  I  am 
pleased  to  find  that  I  am  right  in  this,  for  I  have 
already  written  considerably  on  this  subject  and  intend 
to  write  much  more.  I  know  it  is  not  a  very  popular 
subject  to  write  on,  for  it  cuts  down  the  extravagant 
income  of  our  so-called  best  society." 

"Mr.  Midith,  you  said  a  short  time  ago  that  all  of 
you  bathe  at  least  once  a  day.  Will  you  be  kind 
enough  to  describe  your  bathing  conveniences?"  I 
asked.  "I  have  always  been  fond  of  water,  and  before  I 
go  to  Mars — that  is  if  I  ever  shall  be  able  to  go — I 
would  like  to  know  whether  there  is  still  plenty  of 
water  left  on  the  surface  of  that  planet  to  enjoy  a  good 
swim." 

"In  the  first  place,  Mr.  Fulton,  we  have  large,  beau- 
tiful, artificial  lakes  for  swimming  and  bathing  purposes, 
which  I  will  describe  to  you  more  fully  when  we  get  to 
the  park  and  other  out-door  descriptions,  and  also 
under  the  topic  of  education. 

"Besides  these  artificial  lakes,  which  are  largely 
used  during  warm,  pleasant  weather,  we  have  a  plenti- 
ful supply  of  splendid  bath-rooms,  supplied  with  hot 
and  cold  water;  large  mirrors  and  other  convenient 
furniture  and  toilet  articles. 

"We  have  one  large  parlor  with  a  seating  capacity 
far  exceeding  all  the  members  of  the  family — men, 
women  and  children.  This  is  the  grandest  and  most 
imposing  apartment  in  the  'big-house.'  In  the  center  of 
this  apartment  plays  a  cool,  refreshing  fountain,  which 
ascends   its  water  to  the   high,  artistically  decorated 


94  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

ceiling;  and  as  it  descends  again,  the  brilliant  electric 
lights  reflect  its  iridescence  in  all  directions.  The  walls 
below  are  largely  composed  of  windows  and  grand 
mirrors,  from  which  hundreds  of  mirthful,  happy  faces 
are  reflected.  The  furniture  is  of  the  most  elaborate 
style.  The  chairs,  sofas,  couches,  etc.,  are  models  of 
eace  and  comfort,  as  well  as  elegance.  This  grand  par- 
lor also  contains  an  almost  perfect  electric  orchestra  of 
more  than  a  thousand  pieces.  This  grand  band  of  in- 
strumental music  sends  it  sweet,  soft  symphonies,  to 
which  those  of  your  Beethoven  and  Mozart  can  scarcely 
be  compared,  to  the  ears  of  all  who  are  seeking  com- 
fort and  happiness  in  this  magnificent  drawing-room. 

"Then  we  have  various  smaller  parlors  and  sitting- 
rooms  of  different  sizes,  all  of  which  are  richly 
furnished.  Each  individual  has  also  a  private  apart- 
ment. This  arrangement  affords  each  person  an  op- 
portunity to  be  with  a  large  collection  of  individuals 
in  the  large  parlor,  or  with  a  smaller  group  in  the 
various  sized  smaller  parlors,  or  be  all  to  himself  in  his 
private  apartment.  To  be  sure,  two  or  more  may  room 
together,  if  they  like,  but  this  is  rarely  ever  practiced. 
Under  health  we  have  no  physical  compulsion,  no 
master,  other  than  we  desire,  no  slave,  and  no  'boss.' 
All  the  public  domestic  work  is  performed  by  special- 
ists, both  men  and  women.  The  public  parlors  are 
kept  clean,  ornamented  and  in  tasty  order  by  individu- 
als of  the  family,  who  have  selected  that  as  their  daily 
occupation.  Each  individual  keeps  his  private  apart- 
ment to  suit  his  own  taste.  Cleanliness,  order  and 
regularity  are  taught,  practiced  and  esteemed  such 
high  virtues  that  all  persons,  male  and  female,  pride 
themselves    in    keeping   their   private    apartment    as 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  95 

clean  and  enticing  as  possible.  You  see  we  have  an 
abundance  of  time  for  it.  Our  regular  day's  labor 
consists  of  but  an  hour  or  two.  Each  individual  sleeps 
in  his  private  apartment.  The  grand  folding  beds  are 
always  clean  and  neatly  folded  by  each  individual 
owner.  Every  person  furnishes  his  private  apartment 
to  suit  himself.  In  them  we  have  fine  carpets  on  the 
floor,  elegant  furniture,  costly  curtains,  elaborate 
paintings,  rare  ornaments,  a  complete  toilet,  an  orna- 
mental regi'ster  for  electric  heating,  brilliant  electric 
lights,  a  few  choice  books  and  pictures,  likely  some 
musical  instruments,  and  many  other  conveniences  of 
which  I  shall  tell  you  under  different  topics." 

"What  is  generally  the  size  of  a  private  apart- 
ment?" asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"They  are  about  twenty  feet  square,  including  clos- 
ets and  a  wash-room,"  replied  Mr.  Midith. 

"Now,  let  me  tell  you,"  continued  Mr.  Midith,  "in 
another  part  of  the  'big-house'  is  a  large,  richly  fur- 
nished hall  for  all  kinds  of  amusements,  games,  lect- 
ures, athletic  sports,  gymnastic  and  calisthenical  exer- 
cises, singing,  walking,  speaking,  music,  bicycle  riding 
and  all  other  amusements  and  sports  in  which  Matsites 
desire  to  engage, 

"Several  nursery  apartments  for  children  and  babies 
are  abundantly  supplied  with  toys.  The  floors  of  these 
apartments  are  composed  of  a  smooth,  hard  composi- 
tion, scrubbed  or  flooded  several  times  a  day.  The 
seats,  which  are  along  the  walls,  are  all  stationary,  and 
hundreds  of  children,  even  if  left  all  by  themselves  in 
these  departments,  could  do  no  damage  to  the  build- 
ing or  furniture.     Here  adults  can  bring  and  amuse  the 


96  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

babies  and  little  children.  Further  on  I  shall  describe 
the  out-door  nurseries. 

"The  barber  department,  which  I  have  referred  to 
before,  is  in  charge  of  skillful  barbers,  both  ladies  and 
gentlemen.  Little  or  no  shaving  is  done,  for  nearly 
every  man  wears  a  full  beard.  Men,  women  and  chil- 
dren have  their  hair  cut  short,  dressed  and  arranged  in 
various  styles,  which  we  found  more  convenient  and 
more  healthful.  You  must  always  bear  in  mind  that 
as  man  slowly  but  gradually  reaches  a  higher  state  of 
intellectual  culture,  he  makes  his  habits,  customs  and 
fashions  conform  more  and  more  with  the  laws  of  life 
and  health.  Because  his  esthetic  faculties  continually 
unfold  more  and  more  in  the  direction  of  greater  well- 
being,  the  pursuit  of  happiness  becomes  a  continually 
increasing  incentive.  We  have  many  other  apartments, 
which  I  shall  describe  under  the  topic  to  which  they 
belong." 

"Oh,  what  beautiful,  pleasant  homes  you  must 
have!"  said  Celestine. 

"Yes;  and  how  short  a  day's  labor  is  there T  ex- 
claimed Roland.  "Nearly  all  work  is  done  with  ma- 
chinery." 

"I  wish  we  could  all  go  and  live  there!"  ejaculated 
Viola,  who  had  been  intensely  interested  in  Mr.  Mi- 
dith's  description  of  the  Marsian  "big-house." 

"Why,  w^e  could  live  here  on  earth  just  like  it,  if  we 
only  knew  a  little  more,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "There  is 
nothing  miraculous  in  what  I  have  told  you,  and  in  the 
way  we  live.  All  you  need  to  live,  labor,  and  co-oper- 
ate as  we  do  on  Mars,  are  good,  fair,  intelligent,  indus- 
trious, orderly  men,  women  and  children,  who  foster 
no  revenge,  prejudice  and  jealousy,  who  know  and  are 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  97 

willing  to  do  their  respective  parts  from  the  prompt- 
ings of  inward  sentiments.  All  you  need  in  addition 
to  what  you  already  have  is  a  little  more  intelligence 
for  the  masses — a  little  more  experience  which  teaches 
them  that  right  acts  only  can  bring  happiness.  Addi- 
tional intelligence,  as  a  whole,  strengthens  virtuous 
traits  and  weakens  vicious  ones. 

"As  soon  as  your  masses  can  plainly  see  that  you  can 
live  a  much  happier  life  the  way  the  Marsites  live,  you  will 
certainly  live  that  way;  for  it  is  undoubtedly  true  that 
all  sentiment  beings  are  in  pursuit  of  what  they  believe 
to  be  the  greatest  happiness,  immediate  and  remote. 
You  require  nothing  new  in  kind ;  nothing  that  lies  in 
inaccessible  regions;  nothing  that  is  not  in  the  nature  of 
things  to  develop  the  mundane  inhabitant  so  as  to  live 
a  Marsian  life. 

"You,  as  well  as  we,  can  build  one  large  family  res- 
idence better  than  a  multitude  of  small  ones.  You 
can  build  your  residences  and  other  buildings  certain 
distances  apart,  and  around  a  rectangular  tract  of  land 
which  we  call  a  community,  with  much  less  labor  than 
huddle  them  together  in  crowded  cities  and  towns  or 
isolate  them  in  the  country.  You  can  build  and  oper- 
ate railroads  and  motor  lines,  and  have  them  pass 
through  big-houses  as  well  as  having  them  pass  through 
a  lonely  country.  You  can  run  pumps,  electric  lights, 
elevators,  churns,  laundries  and  all  other  m.achinery  by 
electric  power.  You  know  how  to  construct,  furnish 
and  maintain  grand,  clean  kitchens,  dining  halls,  res- 
taurants, stores,  halls,  barber  shops,  nurseries,  parlors 
and  private  apartments.  You  can,  if  you  only  knew  it, 
derive  far  more  happiness  by  voluntary  co-operation, 
by  being  kind,  cleanly,  orderly,  not  jealous  and  free, 


98  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

than  you  can  by  single-handed  effort,  by  being  cruel, 
filthy,  disorderly,  jealous  and  in  slavery  and  supersti- 
tion. No  doubt  the  same  evolutionary  forces  that  have 
brought  the  human  being  above  the  manlike  ape  in  the 
past  will  slowly  elevate  him  to  a  still  higher  and  nobler 
plane  in  the  future.  I  believe  that  thousands  of  the 
foremost  intellectual  men  and  women  of  the  United 
States,  and  other  countries  of  your  world,  would  now  be 
ready  to  live  a  Marsian  life,  or  one  nearly  like  it,  if 
they  were  not  prevented  by  the  less  intelligent  ones. 
Intelligence  is  the  motive  power  which  determines  our 
course  of  action." 

"Is  there  not  a  great  noise  and  confusion  in  your 
'big-houses'  on  account  of  so  many  of  you  living  in  one 
dwelling?"  asked  Viola.  "So  many  running  in  and  out, 
up  and  down.  One  singing,  one  crying,  and  one 
screaming.  A  collection  of  a  thousand  persons  here 
always  causes  considerable  bluster  and  sometimes  a 
great  tumult." 

"It  is  very  true,  from  the  very  nature  of  things,  that 
a  collection  of  a  thousand  individuals  in  your  society 
causes  a  confusion,  not  unfrequently  a  tumult,  and 
sometimes  even  a  riot.  You  are  not  commonly  prepared 
for  such  large  assemblies,  and  we  are.  With  you  there 
is  a  rush  and  a  scramble  for  the  few  best  places,  and 
all  the  rest  must  accept  what  is  left.  We  provide  first- 
class  accommodation  ior  all,  and  have  even  more  places 
than  persons'  to  take  them.  This  puts  an  end  to  all 
rush  and  scramble,  for  men  and  women  scramble  only 
for  things  that  are  scarce. 

"Everything  in  our  'big-house'  is  quiet  and  orderly. 
All  one  hears  on  ordinary  occasions  is  a  soft,  pleasing 
tone  of  conversation,  and  oftentimes  music  intermingled 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  99 

with  songs  and  mirthful  laughs.  We  do  not  delight  in 
such  noisy,  boisterous  conduct  as  is  often  practiced  by 
a  collection  of  your  people,  who  think  they  can  not 
enjoy  themselves  without  freely  indulging  in  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquor  and  tobacco.  This  pernicious  prac- 
tice often  puts  the  drinker  under  the  influence  of  liquor, 
and  the  smoker  poisons  the  air  his  companions  have  to 
breathe.  We  have  learned  that  we  can  reap  the  great- 
est amount  of  happiness  ourselves  by  not  infringing 
upon  the  equal  rights  of  others.  With  but  one  invader 
in  the  world,  the  world  is  not  as  good  as  with  no  invader 
in  it. 

"  You  see  we  are  never  all  doing  the  same  thing  at 
once  except,  perhaps,  eating  and  sleeping.  The  cook 
does  his  work  in  the  kitchen,  the  barber  in  his  shop, 
the  engineer  in  the  engine-house,  the  duster  in  the 
parlor,  the  clerk  in  the  store,  the  waiter  in  the  din- 
ing-hall  and  restaurant,  the  farmer  in  the  field,  the 
miner  in  the  mine,  etc.  Some  are  spending  their  leis- 
ure time  in  walking,  some  in  the  parlors,  some  in  rid- 
ing on  trains  and  motors,  some  by  visiting,  some  in 
riding  bicycles,  some  in  plays  and  games,  some  in  their 
private  apartment,  and  some  in  countless  other  engage- 
ments. Some  of  the  children  are  in  one  nursery  and 
some  are  in  another;  some  are  in  the  house  and  some 
are  out  doors;  some  are  bathing  and  some  are  playing; 
some  are  at  mental  study,  others  at  physical  work,  and 
so  on  in  endless  variety.  There  is  a  rush  nowhere,  for 
there  is  plenty  of  room  everywhere." 

"  How  grand,  and  yet  how  simple,  does  all  this  ap- 
pear after  we  hear  it,  father!"  exclaimed  Viola.  "It 
seems  that  the  inhabitants  of  all  worlds  ought  to  have 


ICO  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

sufficient  intelligence  to  live  such  kind,  free,  rich  lives. 
Is  it  not  wonderful,  mother?" 

"  It  is,  indeed,  wonderful,"  said  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"  I  think  it  is  now  time  for  retiring,"  said  Mr.  Mid- 
ith.  "To-morrow  evening  I  shall  give  you  an  explana- 
tion, as  you  have  already  requested  me,  of  the  exterior  oi 
the  big-house — the  out-door  surroundings.  lean  assure 
you  they  are  as  grand  to  look  upon  as  the  iftterior. 
Thrifty,  clean,  straight,  orderly,  symmetrical.  Every- 
thing is  in  charge  of  experts,  who  pride  themselves  in 
the  agreeable  taste  and  arrangement  they  effect  by 
their  skill  and  labor." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

HAPPINESS    AND  TRUTH. 

The  next  evening,  when  we  were  all  seated  together 
in  the  cool,  refreshing  shade  of  a  large  tree  which  was 
planted  by  the  hands  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Uwins  during 
their  honeymoon  some  twenty  years  before,  we  re- 
quested Mr.  Midithto  proceed  with  his  explanation  of 
the  exterior  of  the  "big-house." 

But  before  Mr.  Midith  had  an  opportunity  to  begin, 
Rev.  Dudley  requested  permission  to  ask  Mr.  Midith  a 
question. 

"Certainly,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "It  is  one  of  our  prin- 
ciples that  we  allow  all  persons  to  ask  all  the  questions 
they  desire  to  ask." 

"The  question  I  want  to  ask  you  is  this:  I  have 
heard  you  speak  dJoont  happi/iess  and  tnith  several  times. 
What  do  you  understand  by  happiness  and  by  truth? 
What  is  your  idea  of  them?  Will  you  be  kind  enough 
to  give  us  a  brief  explanation  of  them  before  you  pro- 
ceed at  your  announced  topic?  I  would  like  to  know 
how  your  idea  of  happiness  and  truth  coincide  with  our 
theological  view  of  them." 

"Very  well,"  responded  Mr.  Midith. 
''Happiness,  ox  pleasure,  is  a  feeling  which  we  seek  to 
bring  into  consciousness  and  retain  there,  while  misery, 
ox  pain,  is  a  feeling  which   we   seek  to  get  out  of  con- 
sciousness and  to  keep  out.     Hence  all  sentient  beings 

101 


102  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  are  in  pursuit  of  the 
greatest  happiness.  Happiness  is  the  aim  and  end  of 
all.  One  plainly  sees,  then,  that  all  activity  and  quietude 
of  sentient  organisms,  whether  man  or  beast,  have  for 
their  ultimate  end  the  acquisition  of  the  highest  attain- 
able state  of  happiness.  Health,  wealth  and  intelli- 
gence are  intrinsically  worthless.  They  can  only  be 
the  Tficans  by  which  we  can  attain  the  oid — which  is 
always  happiness,  and  the  principle  remains  the  same, 
whether  the  duration  of  this  happiness  is  but  for  a 
moment  or  for  an  eternity;  whether  the  receiver  intends 
to  enjoy  it  in  this  life  only,  or  in  some  supposed  life  to 
come  also. 

"If  I  myself  and  my  fellow-beings  were  just  as  happy, 
it  would  be  of  no  consequence  to  me  or  to  any  one  else 
whether  I  were  blind  or  had  excellent  sight,  whether 
sound  or  diseased,  whether  intelligent  or  ignorant, 
whether  kind  or  cruel,  whether  honest  or  dishonest, 
whether  rude  or  polite,  whether  truthful  or  untruthful, 
whether  rich  or  poor,  whether  praised  or  scorned, 
whether  master  or  slave. 

"It  is,  however,  the  nature  of  blindness,  disease,  ignor- 
ance, slavery,  etc.,  to  produce  ?mscry,  and  tJicrcforc  we 
call  them  evils.  When  we  are  not  afflicted  with  them 
we  seek  to  avoid  them;  when  we  are  afflicted  with  them 
we  seek  to  cure  them.  From  the  foregoing  conclu- 
sions we  are  forced  to  admit  that,  as  a  loholc,  acts  caus- 
ing pleasure  or  happiness  are  conducive  to  life,  while 
on  the  other  hand,  those  causing  pain  or  misery  are  de- 
structive to  life  as  a  whole.  Under  no  other  conceiv- 
able conditions  is  it  possible  for  a  race  of  sentient 
creatures  to  evolve,  maintain  and  perpetuate  itself;  for 
if,  as  a  whole,  acts  destructive  to  life  were  more  pleas- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I03 

urable  than  those  which  conduce  to  the  fuUness  of  it, 
the  race  of  sentient  beings,  even  as  it  now  exists,  would 
soonbecome  extinct;  for  pleasure, or  happiness,  is  a  feel- 
ing which  we  seek  to  bring  into  consciousness  and  retain 
there. 

"To  eat  gives  us  more  happiness  than  it  does  to 
starve;  therefore  we  eat.  To  wear  clothes  gives  us,  as 
a  whole,  more  happiness  than  the  efforts  to  obtain  them 
cause  misery.  To  live  in  society  gives  us,  in  an  aver- 
age, more  pleasure  than  the  social  discord  causes  pain. 
This,  then,  is  in  brief  our  idea  of  general  happiness. 
Now  for  truth. 

"Truth  is  the  exact  correspondence  between  the  sub- 
jective order  of  our  conceptions  and  the  objective  order 
of  the  relations  among  things.  All  things  in  the  uni- 
verse, as  far  a-s  we  know  and  have  reason  to  believe,  are 
related  to  one  another  in  one  or  more  ways.  The  sun 
attracts  all  the  planets,  and  all  the  planets  in  turn  at- 
tract the  sun.  All  the  fixed  stars  are  attracted  by  one 
another,  no  matter  in  what  remote  region  of  the  uni- 
verse they  may  be  located.  If  the  matter  of  only  one 
of  the  countless  stars  of  the  heavens  would  be  annihi- 
lated, all  the  remainder  would  seek  a  new  position. 

"The  sun  radiates  heat  and  light.  The  radiated 
heat  and  light  strike  the  earth.  Heat  causes  evapora- 
tion. Absence  of  heat  produces  condensation,  and 
condensation  causes  rain,  etc.  Rain,  heat  and  light 
are  favorable  to  vegetable  growth.  The  vegetable 
assimilates  the  inorganic  into  the  organic.  The 
animal  lives  on  the  vegetable  directly  or  indirectly. 
Our  environment  acts  on  us,  and  we  in  turn  react  on 
the  environment.     So  we   find   everything,   from   the 


104       Practical  co-operative  individualism. 

mote  to  the  furthcrst  star,  bound  together  by  endless 
relations. 

"When  I  look  at  the  pen  which  I  hold  in  ni)'  hand, 
it  produces  an  impression  on  ni}'  mind.  This  mental 
picture  produced  on  the  mind  by  the  attributes  of  the 
material  pen  in  my  hand,  we  call  an  ideal  pen.  So  you 
see  that  all  things  that  we  know  exist  in  a  double  form 
— the  idea,  or  mental  picture,  of  the  thing  and  the 
thing  itself,  or  the  attributes  of  it,  which  produced  the 
idea,  or  mental  picture.  The  material  pen  in  my  hand 
possesses  the  properties  of  matter  and  weighs  some- 
thing; the  ideal  pen  in  my  mind  possesses  the  prop- 
erties of  mind,  or  consciousness,  and  weighs  nothing. 

"When  the  mental  picture  of  the  ideal  pen  exactly 
corresponds  with  the  material  pen  in  my  hand  in  all 
its  relations,  then  I  have  the  whole  trittli  concerning 
the  pen.  But,  when  I  know  that  a  pen  will  write  and 
that  the  point  is  split,  but  do  not  know  that  the  point 
of  it,  when  brought  with  violence  against  the  hand  or 
other  parts  of  the  body,  will  also  penetrate  the  t^esh 
and  cause  pain,  I  have  only  a  partial  knowledge  of  a 
pen.  That  is,  my  subjective  conceptions  do  not  exactly 
correspond  with  the  subjective  relations  among  the  pen 
and  other  things.  In  this  case  I  would  not  know  the 
exact  relations  between  the  pen's  point  and  my  own 
organs.  I  would  therefore  be  partly  ignorant  on  this 
subject,  and  my  ignorance,  on  this  as  w^ell  as  on  all 
other  points,  would  not  unlikely  lead  me  into  acts  that 
are  attended  with  pain  or  misery — acts  that  are  not  in 
tune  with  facts  and  relations  of  the  things  in  the  uni- 
verse; and  for  the  very  reason  that  such  acts  are 
attended  with  pain,  we  call  them  wrong.     There  would 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  IO5 

be  no  right  and  no  wrong,  if  there  was  no  happiness 
and  pain. 

"All  truth  must  be  found  by  experience.  Some  is 
easily  found,  while  some  lies  deeply  buried  from  the 
superficial  human  view.  Some  truth  is  so  conspicuous 
and  universal  that  all  mankind  believe  and  know  it. 
Some  is  so  obscure  and  hidden  that  no  man  has  yet 
found  it,  unless  we  claim  that  we  know  all  that  can  be 
known,  and  no  well-informed  person  will  make  such 
claims.  It  is  often  said  that  such  and  such  a  thing  can- 
not be  done  because  there  are  too  many  different 
opinions.  But  the  fact  is,  that  we  all  agree  as  far  as  we 
have  found  the  truth.  Men  in  their  opinions  are  likely 
to  differonly  concerning  those  things  about  which  they 
have  not  yet  acquired  the  truth,  but  they  will  always 
agree  as  far  as  they  have  discovered  the  truth.  Thus 
the  concerted  action  of  mankind  becomes  more  and 
more  harmonious,  in  proportion  as  we  discover  new 
truths  and  as  the  number  of  individuals  clearly  see- 
ing these  truths  increases.  The  action  of  a  hundred 
persons,  each  knowing  a  thousand  truths,  or  facts, 
would  be  more  harmonious  than  would  be  the  actions 
of  a  hundred  persons,  fifty  of  whom  know  each  a  thou- 
sand facts  and  fifty  know  only  seven  hundred  each;  or 
than  if  each  of  the  hundred  individuals  know  only  eight 
hundred  facts  each.  Let  us  further  illustrate  this  agree- 
ment and  disagreement  of  mankind;  also  let  us  ex- 
emplify how  conspicuous  some  truths  are  and  how 
obscure  and  complex  others  are. 

"  All  mankind  are  in  pursuit  of  the  greatest  happi- 
ness, either  consciously  or  unconsciously^  whether  that 
happiness  is  to  be  enjoyed  here  or  in  some  sup- 
posed unknown  world.     But  all  believe  in  this  funda- 


I06  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

mental  axiom.  Perhaps  all  men  of  m:v:ure  age  agree 
that  fire  burns.  Our  experience  of  fire  has  established 
quite  an  exact  correspondence  between  the  su]:)jective 
order  of  our  conceptions  and  the  objective  order  of  the 
relations  among  things  and  our  nervous  s)'stem.  All 
sane  persons  believe  that  food  is  necessary  for  the  sus- 
tenance of  the  human  body.  We  all  agree  here.  We 
all  know  of  some  relations  existing  between  water  and 
the  human  organism;  we  know  that  we  cannot  breathe 
it  like  air. 

*'  The  truth,  or  the  relation  existing  between  a 
drowning  man  and  the  altitude  of  Mt.  Everest,  is  not  so 
conspicuous  as  the  example  citeci  before;  yet  there  is  a 
relation  between  them.  The  man  falling  in  the  ocean 
from  the  shore,  tends  to  raise  the  water  of  the  ocean 
in  a  similar  manner  as  a  turnip  thrown  in  a  pail  partly 
filled  with  water,  raises  the  water  in  the  pail.  Mount- 
ains are  measured  from  the  sea  level.  A  high  sea 
level  makes  a  low  mountain,  and  a  loiv  sea  level 
makes  a  high  mountain.  This  relation  is  truth,  but  we 
do  not  all  see  it." 

"But  why  do  we  not  all  know  this  truth  the  same 
as  the  truth  that  fire  burns?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"It  seems  to  me  that  this  is  easily  accounted  for. 
One,  or  at  least  a  few  burns,  is  generally  sufficient  to 
convince  us  that  fire  akvays  burns;  and  when  we  are 
burned  w^e  always  find  it  out,  for  the  pain  is  directly 
communicated  to  the  nervous  system.  But  there  are 
many  reasons  why  we  do  not  all  know  the  relations 
between  the  drowning  man  and  the  altitude  of  Mt. 
Everest.  In  the  first  place,  the  rise  of  the  water  in 
the  ocean  is  so  slight  that  no  human  eye  can  ^ee  it 
No  direct  observation  can  ascertain   it.     Again,   there 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  10/ 

are  not  many  men  drowned.  Again,  nobody  is  watch- 
ing for  the  rise  of  the  water.  We  can  only  know  it  by 
reasoning  up  to  it  from  a  general  principle;  and  you 
know  that  reasoning,  in  your  present  intellectual  stage, 
is,  as  a  whole,  not  very  agreeable  to  the  minds  of  the 
masses  who  are  only  seeking  to  keep  the  fierce  wolf  of 
poverty  away  from  their  door.  Those  are  some  of  the 
reasons. 

"There  is  a  relation  between  the  size  of  Ireland  and 
the  length  of  the  earth's  day.  The  centrifugal  force 
at  the  equator  increases  as  the  day  is  shortened.  If 
the  day  were  half  as  long  as  now,  the  water  would  tend 
to  accumulate  at  the  equator  by  virtue  of  the  increased 
centrifugal  force.  Ireland  is  situated  not  far  from  the 
North  Pole,  and  with  increased  centrifugal  force  at  the 
equator,  the  water  would  recede  from  its  present  shore, 
which  would  increase  the  size  of  Ireland.  If  the  day 
were  Icngtlicncd  to  forty-eight  hours,  Ireland  would  be, 
perhaps,  entirely  submerged. 

"Let  us  take  another  example  where  the  truth  is 
still  more  obscure.  There  exists  a  relation  between  the 
size  of  a  growing  plum  in  the  Selvas  (the  luxuriant  for- 
est of  the  Amazon)  and  \h.Q direction  of  the  earth's  rota- 
tion. The  earth  rotates  from  zuest  to  east,  causing  the 
trade  winds  to  blow  ahvays  from  the  cast.  The  Selvas  is 
situated  in  the  zone  of  trade  winds,  which  brings 
abundance  of  moisture  from  the  Atlantic  ocean,  be- 
cause no  mountains  intervene.  But,  if  the  earth  ro- 
tated from  east  to  west,  would  change  the  direction  of 
the  trade  winds  from  east  to  west.  And  then  the 
Andes  mountains  would  not  let  the  moisture,  which  the 
trade  winds  would  bring  from  the  Pacific,  pass  over 
them,  which  would  make    a    large  part  of  the  Selvas  a 


108  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

desert  instead  of  being  the  most  fertile  land  in  the 
world.  So  the  plum  would  be  very  small  or  no  plum 
at  all. 

"Let  us  take  one  more  example.  There  exists 
a  relation  between  the  amount  of  red  clover  and  the 
number  of  cats;  but  we  do  not  all  see  this  truth  or  rela- 
tion. Let  us  see  if  we  can  trace  it.  Red  clover  is  fer- 
tilized here  only  by  the  humble  bee.  Field  mice 
destroy  humble  bees  by  eating  their  honey;  and  cats 
catch  mice.  To  have  much  red  clover,  then,  we  must 
have  many  humble  bees;  to  have  many  humble  bees,  we 
must  have  few  field-mice;  and  to  have  few  field-mice, 
we  must  have  many  cats. 

"  There  is  a  relation  between  the  garden  soil  and  a 
thought.  Soil  is  assimilated  into  a  potato,  etc.  The 
potato  is  eaten,  digested,  and  built  into  a  brain,  and  the 
brain  is  the  organ  of  thought. 

"So  we  find  a  relation  existing  between  the  whole 
course  of  nature;  between  star  and  planet;  the  body 
and  the  food  we  eat;  the  soil  and  our  life;  the  male  and 
the  female;  the  residence  and  our  health:  labor  and  our 
'garments;  truth  and  happiness. 

"With  these  preliminary  remarks  in  our  mind,  let  us 
see  whether  we  can  trace  and  combine  the  two  great 
phenomena — happiness  and  truth.  Happiness  may 
be  represented  as  being  the  power  which  initiates  and 
guides  our  course  of  action;  and  an  organism  which  is 
at  rest  would  never  move  again,  if,  by  remaining  quiet, 
it  found  from  time  to  time  greater  happiness.  Truth 
may  be  represented  as  being  a  path  which  leads  a  sen- 
tient organism  in  complete  harmony  with  the  facts  of 
the  universe.  There  are  countless  other  paths  besides 
the  path  of  Truth,  which  a  sentient  being  may  travel, 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  IO9 

but  there  is  only  one — the  path  of  Truth  which  rewards 
the  traveler  with  the  greatest  happiness,  while  all  the 
countless  others  punish  him  with  more  or  less  misery, 
and  sometimes  with  instantaneous  death. 

"  If  it  be  true,  then,  that  all  sentient  organisms  are 
in  pursuit  of  the  greatest  happiness,  and  that  happiness 
can  be  attained  only  by  traveling  on  the  path  of  Truth, 
all  sentient  creatures,  whether  human  beings  or  inferior 
animals,  would  be  traveling  the  path  of  Truth  only,  if 
they  possessed  sufficient  intelligence  always  to  ascer- 
tain that  path.  For,  traveling  on  any  other  path,  would 
sooner  or  later  be  attended  with  pain;  and  would  there- 
fore be  a  contradiction  in  terms  to  the  proposition  that 
all  sentient  beings  are  in  pursuit  of  the  greatest  happi- 
ness, which  is  only  realized  completely  when  all  the 
desires  of  the  organisms  are  satisfied.  If,  then,  the 
foregoing  conclusions  are  true,  and  they  have  stood 
the  test  of  the  keenest  scientific  inquiry  on  our  globe 
for  ages,  all  misery,  pain,  wrong,  evil,  or  whatever  we 
may  name  it,  must  be  ascribed  to  ignorance;  and  this 
proposition  is  substantiated  by  the  application  of  every 
known  psychological  fact.     To  illustrate: 

"A  little  child  may  be  actuated  to  put  its  hand 
against  a  red  hot  stove,  because  it  is  ignorant  of  the 
relations  existing  between  the  sensitive  hand  and  the 
hot  stove;  but  after  it  has  learned  the  true  relations,  it 
will  not  do  it  any  more.  A  savage  may  attempt  to  stop 
a  running  locomotive,  by  standing  on  the  track;  but 
after  he  has  learned  its  immense  momentum,  he  will 
cease  trying  it.  A  people,  during  a  certain  stage  of 
intellectual  culture,  may  live  in  cities;  but  after  they 
have  learned  the  evils  and  uselessness  of  cities,  no  one 
will  live  in  them.     With  a  certain  amount  of  intelli- 


no  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

gence,  man  cndeav^ors  to  make  himself  happy  by 
antagonizing  the  happiness  of  others;  but  as  soon  as  he 
discovers  that  a  greater  happiness  can  be  attained  by 
building  our  own  happiness  on  the  happiness  of  our 
fellowman,  all  antagonism  disappears.  Some  of  these 
truths  we  can  see  conspicuously  with  a  little  intelli- 
gence, while  others  are  very  obscure  and  require  a  vast 
amount  of  it.  lUit  no  matter  how  conspicuous  or  how 
obscure,  just  as  soon  as  we  learn  that  we  deriv^e  greater 
happiness  by  doing  right,  or  by  following  Truth,  we 
will  follow  it,  for  its  own  reward,  wherever  we  see  it, 
and  just  that  far  all  persons  agree." 

"  But,  according  to  your  theory,  Mr.  Midith,  does  it 
not  necessarily  follow  that  a  hog,  wallowing  in  a  mud 
puddle,  enjoys  as  much  happiness  as  a  philosopher,  or 
as  a  Marsite  enjoys  in  the  grand  parlors  of  his  big- 
house,  or  sporting  on  his  brilliantly  lighted  boulevard  ?" 
asked  Rev.  Dudley.  "You  say  that  an  organism  is  com- 
pletely happy  when  all  its  desires  are  fully  satisfied; 
and  it  seems  to  me  that  all  the  hog's  desires  may  be  as 
fully  satisfied  as  those  of  a  JMarsitc." 

"  I  fear.  Rev.  Dudley,  that  )'ou  do  not  understand 
our  position  at  all,"  replied  Mr.  Midith.  "But  let  us  see 
if  I  can  make  this  plain  to  you. 

"  You  know  that  as  we  ascend  in  the  scale  of  animal 
creation,  the  faculties,  as  you  call  them,  of  each  organ- 
ism increase  in  number  and  in  complexity.  The  hog,  of 
which  you  speak,  has  more  and  higher  faculties  than  the 
snail.  The  ape  has  more  and  higher  faculties  than  the 
hog.  The  savage  has  more  and  higher  ones  than  the 
ape.  And  the  highly  cultivated  person  has  more  and 
higher  ones  than  the  savage.  Each  additional  faculty, 
as  we  ascend  in  the  scale  of  animal  being,  brings  also 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM,  III 

new  and  higher  desires,  so  that  a  being  which  is  en- 
dowed with  many  and  with  complex  faculties,  has  also 
many  and  high  desires  to  satisfy.  But  we  must  re- 
member that  the  ability  to  satisfy  desires  increases  in  a 
greater  ratio  than  the  desires  increase  in  number  and 
in  complexity. 

"Now,  then,  we  get  to  the  main  point,  which  is: 
Each  satisfied  faculty  contributes  its  amount  of  happi- 
ness in  proportion  to  its  complexity  of  the  desire;  so 
that  a  being  which  has  numerous  and  complex  desires, 
and  has  them  all  satisfied,  is  immeasurably  happier 
than  a  being  which  has  but  a  few  and  simple  desires, 
which  are  also  all  satisfie'd.  Each  faculty,  then,  is  a 
track,  so  to  speak,  on  which  loads  of  happiness  of  dif- 
ferent value  are  coming  into  consciousness. 

"Now,  I  think  we  can  easily  see  why  it  is  that  a 
highly  enlightened  person,  other  things  being  equal,  is 
happier  than  an  ignorant,  superstitious  one.  The  en- 
lightened person  has  several  advantages  over  the  igno- 
rant one.  First,  the  enlightened  person  understands 
the  phenomena  of  nature  better,  which  enables  him  to 
march  more  in  harmony  with  facts,  by  which  he  escapes 
the  natural  penalty  of  discord,  and  reaps  the  reward  of 
harmony.  And,  secondly,  the  informed  person  lives  in 
a  vast  mental  world,  bounded  only  by  telescopic  stars 
located  in  the  remote  regions  of  the  universe.  His 
extended  world  contains  countless,  admirable  things, 
the  admiration  of  each  of  which  brings  him  a  flood  of 
happiness;  while  the  unenlightened,  superstitious  per- 
son lives  in  a  very  contracted  mental  world  bounded 
by  superstitious  fear,  over  which  boundary  he  dares  not 
pass.  His  small  world  contains  only  a  few  things  from 
which  he  receives  happiness  by  admiring  them,  and 


112  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

even  these  few  things  he  understands  so  imperfectly 
that  he  is  continually  punished  by  nature  for  running 
cross-grained  with  facts.  The  foregoing  conclusion  is 
also  confirmed  by  the  evolution  point  of  view.  For  if 
the  greatest  happiness  is  our  highest  aim  and  end,  a 
complex  being  could  not  have  evolved  from  a  sim- 
pler one,  if  the  complex  organism  were  not  enjoying  a 
greaterhappiness  than  the  more  ignorant  or  inferior  one. 
"After  the  foregoing  contemplation,  we  can  easily 
see  that  each  organism,  according  to  its  degree  of  de- 
velopment, has  a  particular  environment  in  which  all  its 
desires  can  be  most  nearly  satisfied.  A  savage,  with 
his  mental  constitution,  would  find  no  delight  in  living 
a  civilized  life  in  an  elegantly  furnished  residence;  his 
position  would  not  correspond  with  his  faculties  and 
desires,  and  before  he  could  enjoy  a  splendid  parlor, 
his  desires  will  have  to  be  changed.  An  ape  would  find 
no  happiness  in  following  the  habits  of  a  hog;  and  a 
hog  could  not  live  in  the  environment  of  a  fish,  neither 
could  the  masses  of  your  people,  with  their  present 
desires  and  amount  of  intelligence,  if  transferred  to 
our  world,  enjoy  the  free,  kind,  and  rich  society  of 
Mars.  They  would  feel  as  awkward  there  as  the  savage 
would  feel  in  your  parlor.  Intelligence,  personal  and 
ancestral,  determines  the  whole  course  of  animal  ac- 
tivity. Every  animal  and  every  man  acts  just  as  good, 
and  no  better,  as  the  amount  of  his  intelligence  com- 
pels him  to  act.  And  no  one's  course  of  action, 
whether  considered  good  or  bad,  can  be  changed  per- 
manently without  the  mental  assimilation  of  additional 
knowledge.  A  clear  and  thorough  knowledge  of  this 
important  truth  by  all  would  forever  banish  every 
vestige  of  human  cruelty  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  II3 

• 

"In  conclusion  of  this  topic,  let  me  say  that  I  am 
very  glad  that  you  requested  me  to  give  you  our  idea 
of  truth  and  happiness.  But,  in  order  to  avoid  being 
misunderstood,  allow  me  to  explain  one  other  point. 
I  told  you  that  an  organism  is  completely  happy  only 
when  all  its  desires  are  fully  satisfied;  but,  as  a  whole, 
our  desires  can  never  be  completely  satisfied.  This,  I 
think,  can  be  best  understood  by  bearing  in  mind  that 
the  higher  beings  according  to  the  doctrine  of  evolu- 
tion have  been  evolved  from  lower  organisms  by  the  pres- 
sure of  environment,  by  competition,  by  the  survival  of 
the  fittest.  Our  environment  is  continuously  pressing 
us,  by  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  etc.,  into  higher  and 
higher  planes,  which  require  a  continuous  adjustment 
of  ourselves  with  our  environment,  and  this  continuous 
adjustment  and  pressure  involves  incomplete  satisfac- 
tion. There  will,  then,  always  remain  abundance  of 
scope  for  our  healthful  ambition,  both  in  the  direction 
of  physical  structure  and  mental  powers.  No  matter 
how  physically  perfect  a  person  may  be  in  bodily 
structure,  strength,  endurance  and  agility,  we  can  con- 
ceive of  one  who  is  still  his  superior.  And  no  matter 
how  learned  a  person  may  be,  his  field  of  thought  is 
always  bounded;  and  this  boundary  always  implies  a 
region  outside  of  the  sphere  of  his  thought,  which  can 
never  be  co-extensive  and  identical  with  infinity." 


CHAPTER  X. 

EXTERIOR    OF    THE    "  BIG-HOUSE." 

"  Now,  I  shall  endeavor  to  give  you  a  description  of 
the  exterior  of  the  '  big-house,'  "  said  Mr.  Midith,  as  he 
began  to  draw  a  neat  outline,  on  which  he  located  four 
"big-houses'"  and  a  cross-section  of  a  community,  as 
shown  on  page  115. 

"  Before  I  give  you  a  detailed  description  of  the 
different  parts  of  this  outline,  I  shall  have  to  refer  you 
to  the  diagram  I  drew  for  you  the  other  evening. 
(Page  58.)  You  will  there  notice  that  our  comuiunities 
are  all  numbered,  as  Community  i,  2,  etc.  Hence,  a 
country  as  large  as  the  United  States,  containing  nearly 
3,500,000  square  miles,  divided  up  into  communities  like 
ours,  containing  about  four  townships,  or  144  square 
miles  each,  will  make  about  25,000  communities.  I  told 
you,  in  brief,  that  the  '  big-houses  '  are  situated  along 
the  motor-lines,  on  the  perimeter  of  the  communities, 
and  are  about  half  mile  apart,  as  indicated  by  the  dots 
in  Community  No.  i  (page  58).  The  'big-houses'  of 
each  community  are  also  numbered,  as  indicated  by  the 
figures  i,  2,  3,  etc.,  in  Community  No.  i  (page  58). 

"  It  is  not  strictly  true  that  the  '  big-houses  '  are  lo- 
cated a  half-mile  apart,  for  about  every  four  miles  or 
closer,  as  indicated  by  the  square  dots  in  Community  2 
(page  58),  we  have  a  large  warehouse  or  factory  instead 
of  a'  big-house;'  but  these  warehouses,  etc.,  are  very  srm- 


This  diagram  represents  a  cross-section,  somewhat  more  than  half 
mile  wide,  and  extending  across  from  the  motor-line  to  the  field. 

A  is  a  park  one-fourth  mile  wide,  extending  from  the  motor-line  to 
the  boulevard  all  around  the  community. 

1  represents  a  double  track  motor-line. 

"2,  .'],  4  and  5  represent  "  big-houses." 

()  represents  a  hundred-foot  wide  bouleva-'d. 

7  and  8  represent  foot-paths. 

9  represents  a  hundred-foot  walk  leading  through  and  around 
the  "big-houses"  from  one  to  the  other. 

10  are  two  outdoor  nurseries  for  little  children. 


11  and  12  are  two  artificial  lakes  for  bathing  and  swimming. 

13  represents  a  500-foot  wide  conservatory  and  green-house. 

14  represents  a  walk  between  the  green-house  and  garden. 
1.")  represents  a  1000-foot  wide  garden. 

1(5  represents  a  walk  between  the  garden  and  the  orchard. 

17  rep.-esents  a  1000-foot  wide  orchard. 

18  represents  a  walk  between  the  orchard  and  field. 

19  represents    the    field,    e.xtending  clear  across  to  the  opposite 
side  of  the  orchard. 

'20  represent   walks   extending   across  park,  green-house,   garden, 
etc.,  from  the  "  big-houses"  to  the  field. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  II 5 

ilar  in  structure  to  a  '  big-house.'  Now,  we  want  to  bear 
in  mind  that  the  communities  are  numbered,  so  that  when 
we  know  the  number  of  a  certain  community  we  know 
in  what  particular  part  of  the  country  it  is  situated; 
and  we  also  want  to  remember  that  the  '  big-houses  '  of 
each  community  are  numbered  consecutively  from  i  to 
about  135,  including  the  warehouses,  factories,  etc. 
The  number  of  a  'big-house'  also  indicates  its  location 
in  the  community. 

"  From  what  I  have  already  said,  then,  you  have 
learned  the  following  facts: 

.  "I.  Our  countries,  or  grand  divisions  of  land,  are 
divided  into  rectangular  communities,  about  24  miles 
long  and  6  miles  wide.  2.  Each  community  is  sur- 
rounded by  60  miles  of  motor-line.  3.  Railroads  are 
about  100  miles  apart,  running  both  north  and  south 
and  east  and  west.  4.  Each  community  under  ordi- 
nary conditions  contains  about  one  hundred  and  twenty 
'big-houses.'  5.  The  inmates  of  each  'big-house'  gener- 
ally number  about  one  thousand.  6.  The  inhabitants 
of  each  community,  then,  are  nearly  one  hundred  and 
twenty  thousand.  7.  Each  community  has  about  fif- 
teen or  twenty  warehouses,  mills  and  factories.  8. 
Both  the  communities  and  the  'big-houses'  are  num- 
bered. 

"  Now  I  think  we  are  ready  to  give  you  a  descrip- 
tion of  this  outline  or  diagram,  and  the  different 
parts  it  represents.  Number  i  represents  a  double- 
tracked  motor-line  passing  through  the  connecting  wing 
of  the  '  big-houses.'  Nos.  2,  3,  4  and  5  represent  four 
'big-houses.'  Tvvo  and  two  are  located  just  opposite 
each  other,  with  the  motor-line  between  them.  This 
enables  our  motor-cars  to  stop  at  points  only  where  two 


Il6  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

thousand  persons  reside.  Nos.  2  and  4  belon<^  to  one 
community  and  Nos.  3  and  5  to  another.  No.  6  repre- 
sents a  hundred-foot  wide  boulevard  fringed  with  the 
finest  shade  trees  that  nature  and  art  can  produce.  This 
boulev^ard,  of  course,  the  same  as  all  the  other  walks 
and  strips  of  land  which  are  numbered  on  this  dia- 
gram, run  parallel  with  the  motor-lines  all  around  the 
community.  The  floor  of  this  boulevard  is  composed 
of  artificial  granite,  cast  on  top  of  a  solid  founda- 
tion. It  is  clean,  smooth,  and  more  durable  than  nat- 
ural granite.  In  the  evening  this  boulevard  and  other 
walks  are  lighted  with  brilliant  electric  lights  gener- 
ated by  the  electric  engine.  On  this  smooth,  shady, 
brilliantly-lighted  boulevard,  thousands  of  men,  women 
and  children  spend  part  of  their  plentiful  leisure  time 
in  healthful  exercise.  Some  are  riding  elegantly-fin- 
ished and  highly-geared  bicycles  with  which,  under 
favorable  conditions,  a  speed  of  lOO  miles  an  hour  can 
be  made  on  this  smooth,  level  track.  Some  are  riding 
on  splendid,  convenient,  electric  carriages,  which  may 
be  open  or  shaded,  or  entirely  enclosed  and  heated 
with  electricity  from  within  during  cold  weather. 

"On  each  side  of  the  main  boulevard  Nos.  7  and  8, 
is  a  foot  path  shaded  and  floored  the  same  as  the  boule- 
vard. On  these  walks  men,  women  and  children  take 
much  of  their  walking  exercises.  The  men  and  women 
wheel  and  carry  the  little  babies  in  the  fresh  air  on 
these  fine  walks. 

"Each  individual  man,  woman  and  child  that  can 
manage  a  bicycle,  a  carriage  or  other  vehicle  own  one 
or  more.  Sometimes  we  go  out  alone;  sometimes  in 
company  with  a  gentleman;  sometimes  in  company  with 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  II7 

a   lady.     Of  course,  this  is  left  entirely  to  the  choice 
and  taste  of  each  individual." 

"It  must  be  a  splendid  sight  to  see  these  fine 
bicycles,  carriages  and  other  vehicles  swiftly  gliding 
along  this  fine,  endless  boulevard!"  exclaimed  Mr. 
Uwins. 

"It  is  indeed  grand  and  cheerful,"  responded  Mr. 
Midith.  "I  wish  it  were  possible  that  we  could  all 
spend  an  hour  there  about  this  time  of  a  June  evening." 

"But  how  can  every  one  afford  to  buy  all  these 
nice  things  of  which  you  speak?"  asked  Viola.  "And 
you  say,  too,  that  ladies  and  children  have  them  as 
well  as  gentlemen?" 

"Certainly,"  replied  Mr.  Midith.  "A  lady's  day's 
work  is  worth  just  as  much  to  us  as  a  gentleman's,  and 
so  it  is  to  you;  the  only  difference  is  we  pay  for  it  all  it 
is  worth  and  you  do  not.  When  you  speak  of  afford- 
ing to  buy  so  many  nice  things,  you  must  remember 
that  we  can  afford  to  buy  even  much  more  than  we 
actually  do.  By  working  together  on  such  a  large 
scale  and  only  at  productive  labor,  by  having  such  a 
complete  division  of  labor  that  we  are  all  experts,  and 
with  the  aid  of  the  grand  machinery,  which  are 
operated  for  the  benefit  of  all  and  not  for  the  benefit 
of  di  fc%v  as  you  do,  our  economy  of  wealth  and  labor 
is  so  immense,  and  our  production  so  abundant,  that  we 
receive  each  according  to  your  time  and  pay  over  $10  a 
day,  which  consists  in  an  average  of  less  than  two 
hours  of  physical  labor.  So  you  see  if  you  individually 
received  more  than  $10  a  day,  besides  the  dwelling, 
fuel,  light  and  all  other  public  interests,  you  could  buy 
all  the  luxuries  and  do  all  the  traveling  you  desired 
and  still  have  plenty  of  'money'  left  for  old  age.    After 


Il8  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

I  have  told  you  all  about  our  social  and  industrial  sys- 
tem, I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  see  why  we  arc  able  to 
produce  so  much  wealth  with  so  little  labor. 

"But  let  us  now  go  on  with  our  description.  I  hope 
you  will  pardon  me  for  the  slight  digression  I  made. 
A  is  a  park  one-fourth  mile  wide,  extending  from 
the  boulevard  to  the  motor  line.  In  this  park  the 
'big-houses'  are  located,  as  shown  on  diagram.  No.  9 
is  a  granite  walk  100  feet  wide,  passing  tliroiigh  and 
aroH/idiht  'big-houses'  from  one  to  the  other.  No.  10 
are  nurseries  400  by  600  feet.  Part  of  these  nurseries 
are  covered  with  glass  and  artificially  warmed  when 
necessary,  and  part  of  them  are  open.  In  these  out- 
door nurseries,  the  little  children  who  are  unable  to 
care  for  themselves  are  playing  part  of  their  time. 

"Nos.  II  and  12  are  two  artificial  lakes  for  bathing 
and  swimming  purposes.  They  are  fenced  in  with  a 
high  fence,  so  that  no  very  little  children  can  get  in  un- 
attended. These  lakes  are  each  100  by  300  feet  in  size, 
with  a  large  fountain  in  the  center  of  each.  The  water 
is  supplied  and  the  fountain  fed  by  the  engine  in  the 
'big-house.'  One  of  these  lakes  is  fitted  for  children 
who  can  not  swim,  and  is  so  shallow  that  they 
cannot  drown  in  it.  The  entrance  is  guarded  by 
a  self-closing  gate,  which  is  so  difficult  to  open  that  a 
child  who  is  too  young  to  help  itself  can  not  open.  In 
this  shady,  crystal,  clear  lake,  supplied  with  all  bathing 
and  swimming  conveniences,  our  little  children  daily 
bathe,  swim  and  play  when  the  weather  is  favorable.  Our 
children  are  so  independent,  so  well  taught,  and  things 
are  all  so  convenient  that  a  child  two  or  three  years 
old  needs  no  assistance  in  dressing  and  undressing. 
They  go  where  they  like  and  do  what  they  please.  The 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  II9 

other  one  of  these  lakes  is  similarly  fitted  up,  but  is 
much  deeper  and  is  used  by  grown  persons.  The  en- 
trance is  guarded  by  a  self-locking  door,  and  no  man  or 
woman  who  does  not  carry  a  key  can  get  in  alone.  This 
prevents  little  children  from  getting  in,  for  they  are 
not  supplied  with  keys.  By  means  of  these  artificial, 
as  well  as  other  natural  bodies  of  water,  every  man, 
woman  and  youth  is  a  good  swimmer;  we  learn  it  in 
childhood  and  practice  it  all  through  life. 

"This  beautiful  park,  which  is  the  pride  of  every 
member  of  the  family,  is  adorned  with  closely  shaven 
lawns,  dense  shade  trees,  rare  ornamental  trees,  all 
varieties  of  beautiful  odoriferous  flowers,  play-grounds 
for  all  kinds  of  out-door  games,  and  all  apparatus  for 
amusement  which  men,  women  and  children  desire  to 
use.  The  park  and  everything  in  it  is  kept  in  order  by 
our  most  experienced  men  and  women  we  have  in  the 
family." 

"Are  your  wives  always  attended  by  their  husbands 
when  out  in  the  park,  on  the  boulevard,  etc.,  or  do 
they  sometimes  go  alone?"   asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"Mrs.  Uwins,  your  question  clearly  shows  that  you 
do  not  yet  understand  our  social  conditions.  We  have 
no  husband  and  wife  at  all  as  you  know  them  here. 
But  this  I  will  explain  to  you  further  on  under  the 
head  of  sexual  relations,  because  it  does  not  belong  to 
the  present  topic. 

"No.  13,  right  along  the  boulevard,  is  a  conservatory 
or  green-house,  500  feet  wide  and  almost  entirely  sur- 
rounded by  glass,  which  we  manufacture  very  cheaply 
and  which  is  very  inflexible  and  yet  not  brittle.  This 
gives  each  family  a  very  large  green-house."  It  is  nearly 
a  half  mile  long  and    500  feet  wide,   which  gives  us  an 


120  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

area  of  nearly  30  acres  of  conservatory  to  each  'big- 
house.'  We  heat  it  with  electricity  generated  by  the 
house  engine  or  by  natural  gas.  To  obtain  the  neces- 
sary moistiu'e  for  this  vast  green-house,  we  ha\'e  capa- 
cious reservoirs  or  cisterns,  to  which  we  attach  a  large 
hose  sprinkler  and  let  it  rain  when  and  where  we  please 
within  its  walls.  This  green-house  furnishes  all  the 
flowers  and  green  vegetables  we  want  during  the  whole 
winter.  It  is  under  the  immediate  management  of  our 
most  skillful  horticulturists. 

"No.  14  is  a  50-foot  walk  immediately  back  and 
parallel  with  the  conservatory. 

"No.  15  is  a  garden  1,000  feet  wide.  It  is  all  laid  off 
in  geometrical  beds  by  professional  gardeners,  who 
work  in  the  garden  during  the  summer  and  in  the  im- 
mense green-house  during  the  winter.  This  garden, 
with  its  countless  variety  of  beautiful,  fragrant  flowers, 
and  its  endless  clean  paths,  serves  not  only  as  a  field 
for  the  production  of  all  kinds  of  edible  vegetables  our 
world  produces  in  that  climate,  but  it  serves  as  a  park 
as  well.  During  our  long  leisure  hours,  hundreds  of 
ladies  and  gentlemen  are  strolling  in  its  paths,  eating 
what  they  like.  This  garden  is  so  well  worked  that 
there  is  scarcely  ever  a  weed  in  it.  The  soil  is  kept 
very  rich;  if  not  by  nature,  it  is  made  so  by  fertilizers, 
which  we  manufacture  abundantly.  About  midway 
across  our  garden  is  a  subterranean  tube  supplied  with 
water,  to  which  hydrants  are  attached  at  short  intervals. 
To  these  hydrants  hose  are  attached  for  sprinkling 
purposes.  So  you  see,  we  can  raise  an  abundant  crop 
in  our  garden  in  spite  of  the  greatest  drought.  We  do 
not  need  nature  to  moisten  the  thirsty  soil  to  germinate 
the  seed  when  planted,  nor  do  we  need  her  to  kiss  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I2t 

verdant  foliage  with  her  liquid  treasure  from  the 
clouds,  nor  from  the  dewdrops  of  a  quiet  night.  The 
hand  of  art,  in  the  form  of  a  gigantic  sprinkler,  can  pro- 
duce the  necessary  shower,  in  which  the  tiny  rainbow 
plays  in  the  sunbeam,  when  and  where  we  want  it. 

"No.  i8  is  a  fifty-foot  walk  between  the  orchard  and 
the  main  field,  which  extends  clear  across  the  com- 
munity from  orchard  to  orchard. 

"No.  17  is  an  orchard  1,000  feet  wide,  although  the 
width  of  it  varies  according  to  climate  and  adaptation 
for  raising  fruit.  In  this  orchard  we  raise  all  varieties 
of  fruit  adapted  to  the  climate.  The  trees  are  not 
crowded  on  the  ground,  and  the  lawn  beneath  them  is 
always  kept  green  and  mown  short  by  lawn  mowers 
driven  by  an  engine.  Our  tables  never  feel  the  effect 
of  winter.  What  our  orchard,  garden  and  green-house 
can  not  successfully  produce  is  shipped  in  from 
tropical  regions  in  refrigerator  cars,  which  are  cold  in 
the  summer  and  warm  in  the  winter. 

"The  Nos.  20  are  boulevards  and  walks  leading  to 
and  from  the  'big-houses'  across  the  park,  through  the 
green-house,  across  the  garden  and  orchard.  They 
cross  all  the  longitudinal  boulevards  and  walks.  You 
will  notice  that  there  is  such  a  cross  walk  on  each  side 
of  the  'big-hou.'je.'  The  one  is  used  when  going  from 
the  house,  and  the  other  when  going  to  the  house. 
This  arrangement  prevents  all  collision  and  confusion 
in  going  to  and  coming  from  the  'big-houses.' 

"The  farming  is  all  done  with  electric  motors  or 
engines,  as  I  have  already  told  you.  The  work  is 
mere  play.  Everything  is  done  with  machinery  on  a 
large  scale;  hardly  any  muscular  power  is  required. 
Our  land  is  all  well  fertilized.     The  plowing  is  done  by 


122  PRACTICAL    C0-0PF:RATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

huge  gang  plows  and  rotating  harrows.  The  harrow- 
ing and  sowing  is  done  by  a  machine  over  fifty  feet 
wide,  which  harrows,  sows,  and  then  harrows  again  all 
at  the  same  time.  The  harvesting  and  threshing  I 
have  already  explained  to  you  some  time  ago." 

I  then  asked  Mr.  Midith  whether  the  Marsites 
raised  corn  and  potatoes,  and  if  so,  what  kind  of 
machinery  they  had  for  that  purpose,  to  which  he 
replied: 

"We  raise  corn  and  potatoes  similar  to  }'ours;  the 
on!)-  difference  is  that  we  have  improved  them  more 
1)\- cultivation,  because  we  have  had  longer  time.  We  have 
superior  varieties  than  you  now  have;  but  as  your  botan- 
ical knowledge  becomes  more  and  more  perfect,  you 
will  keep  on  improving  the  same  as  we  have  done. 

"Our  corn  and  potatoes  are  all  planted  with 
machines,  which  plant  from  four  to  ten  rows  at  once. 
We  have  a  corn  husker  that  snaps  the  ears  off  from  four 
to  six  rows  and  elevates  them  into  a  large  wagon  or  car 
as  the  engine  moves  it  along.  The  corn  is  of  course  not 
entirely  free  from  husks  when  picked  with  this  husker. 
When  the  car,  or  wagon,  is  full,  it  is  taken  to  the  ware- 
house, where  the  corn,  the  same  as  the  other  grain  of 
which  I  have  already  told  you,  is  dumped  into  a  large 
hopper,  from  which  elevators  carry  it  to  the  curing  bin, 
where  daily  thousands  of  bushels  are  cured.  When 
the  remaining  husk  is  thoroughly  dry, the  corn  passes 
through  a  machine,  or  husker,  which  breaks  up  all  the 
dried,  brittle  husk,  and  here  a  powerful  current  of  air 
separates  the  silk  and  broken  up  husk  from  .the  ears, 
which  are  again  cured  and  then  shelled  and  stored 
away  for  future  use.  Not  a  grain  is  thus  wasted, 
spoiled,  or  damaged. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  1 23 

"Our  potato-digger  is  almost  perfect  too.  With  it 
two  or  three  persons  and  an  engine  can  dig  more  than 
a  thousand  bushels  a  day.  The  digger  is  made  some- 
thing like  this:  A  kind  of  incline  plane  plow  runs  un- 
der through  the  row,  raises  the  soil  and  potatoes  on  the 
plow,  which  drops  the  whole  on  a  wire  elevator  which 
lets  the  soil  pass  through  it,  and  elevates  the  potatoes  in 
a  car  back  of  the  plows.  In  this  manner  one  engine 
draws  from  two  to  four  plows. 

"Hay  and  other  feed  for  cattle  is  not  much  needed; 
for  as  I  have  told  you,  we  keep  cattle  only  for  dairy 
purposes,  sheep  for  wool  and  poultry  for  eggs.  The 
stock  is  raised  on  land  not  so  well  adapted  for  agricult- 
ure. The  feed  is  nutritious  and  well  prepared;  the  sta- 
bling is  all  of  the  very  best  and  most  convenient  kind, 
warmed  by  electricity.  The  hay  is  cut  with  large  mow- 
ers, which  elevate  the  cut  grass  into  the  large  wagon 
racks  used  with  the  headers.  It  is  cured  by  artificial 
means  the  same  as  the  grain. 

"By  this  method  we  have  always  first-class  hay 
highly  nutritious.  None  of  it  is  left  on  the  field.  None 
of  it  blows  away;  no  waste,  and  not  a  particle  of  it  is 
spoiled  by  rain,  because  it  is  always  hauled  in  and  cured 
as  fast  as  it  is  cut. 

"I  notice  that  your  method  of  hay-making  is  very 
slow,  uncertain  and  wasteful,  because  much  of  it  is  to- 
tally spoiled  by  rain  before  it  is  stacked;  a  part  of  it  is 
spoiled  in  the  stack,  and  a  large  part  of  the  remainder 
is  more  or  less  damaged  in  various  ways. 

"I  may  say  here  that  our  poultry  is  all  hatched  by 
steam  incubators,  and  is  as  well  housed  as  we  are  our- 
selves. In  the  winter  we  have  large  areas  covered  with 
glass,  under  which  they  enjoy  the  warm  sunshine  and 


1^4  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

even  temperature  almost  the  same  as  in  the  summer. 
B)'  these  means  we  get  abundance  of  eggs  during  the 
whole  year. 

"Do  you  see  how  vastly  we  save  wealth  and  labor 
by  our  extensive  voluntary  co-operation,  as  compared 
with  your  single-handed,  sli[)shod  industries?  How 
much  disorder  and  inconvenience  you  experience? 
How  often,  when  working  your  little  farms,  you  are 
obliged  to  turn  your  weary,  half-dead  teams,  which  are 
trampling  under  foot  the  very  crop  you  are  trying  to 
raise?  How  much  land  all  along  your  fences  and 
other  division  lines  produces  nothing  useful?  How 
many  fights  and  quarrels  over  your  division  lines? 
How  often,  in  order  to  do  a  little  work,  you  have  to  go 
back  and  forth  with  your  little  narrow  machinery, 
drawn  by  aninial  flesh?  and  how  often  do  you  have  to  go 
over  the  same  place  before  you  have  your  crop  scarcely 
planted?  How  much  labor  and  land  you  require  for 
the  production  of  feed  for  your  draught  animals?  You 
have  to  do  almost  as  much  for  them  as  they  do  for 
you,  and  that  is  indeed  very  much.  How  poorly,  as  a 
whole,  you  feed  and  shelter  your  stock  from  the  cold 
and  other  inclemency  of  the  weather.  Your  little 
straw  sheds  are  full  of  filth  and  snow.  Your  stables 
are  not  unfrequently  one  thickness  of  inch  boards,  with 
large  cracks  between  the  boards.  Your  sheep  often 
have  no  other  shelter  than  a  fence  or  a  little  grove; 
their  wool  is  torn  out  by  the  snow  and  ice  that  is  frozen 
in  it.  Your  poultry,  during  a  winter's  storm,  is  some- 
times frozen  fast  to  the  perch,  and  have  often  not  a 
foot  of  bare  ground,  where  they  can  procure  the  sand 
and  gravel  necessary  for  their  digestion.  How  much 
more  food  your  animals,  that  are  so   poorly  sheltered 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I25 

and  cared  for,  require  to  keep  up  the  animal  heat  which 
should  be  kept  up  by  proper  care  and  warm  shelter. 

"  How  densely  your  population  huddles  together  in 
your  cities  and  towns,  eking  out  a  bare  existence  in 
garrets  and  tenement  houses  which  are  totally  unfit  for 
an  abode  of  a  human  being;  and  how  lamely  and  single- 
handed  your  agriculturist  toils,  early  and  late,  for  the 
support  of  himself,  his  so-called  family,  and  the  army 
of  city  unproductive  and  destructive  laborers.  What 
a  slave  a  wife  is  who  has  to  live  either  in  a  city  garret 
or  tenement  house,  or  in  a  lonely  country  home!  How 
little  intellectual  culture  she  can  attain!  How  finan- 
cially dependent  she  is  on  her  'master' — the  so-called 
husband!  How  his  children  are  working  themselves 
crooked,  stiff,  and  otherwise  deformed  from  the  long, 
heavy  day's  toil!  How  little  room  there  is  for  intel- 
lectual development  under  such  social  and  industrial 
burdens!  All  is  toil,  slavery,  and  obedience.  No 
parks,  no  fine  walks,  no  pleasant  rides,  no  greenhouses 
where  a  flower  or  green  plant  can  be  picked  during  the 
cold  winter  day  when  something  green  cheers  the  heart 
and  delights  the  eye.  Your  gardens  are  rudely  laid 
out,  and  mostly  full  of  weeds  and  poultry,  and  some- 
times hogs  and  cattle.  Your  orchards  are  planted  with 
a  few  varieties  of  trees  which  often  bear  a  better  crop 
of  caterpillars  than  fruit;  your  shrubbery  is  largely 
choked  to  death  in  some  fence  corner  or  under  some 
larger  trees,  for  want  of  sunshine  and  moisture.  Your 
lawn  is  often  an  ash-pile,  and  not  unfrequently  a  rub- 
bish-heap." 


CHAPTER  XL 

EXTERIOR    OF    "  BIG-HOUSE." 

[  Continued.  ] 

*'  Now,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  that  I  am 
ridiculing  your  social  and  industrial  institutions,  or  that 
I  blame  any  one  for  these  poor,  pitiable  conditions  we 
find  existing  here  on  earth.  We  passed  through  the 
same  woful  stages.  Every  well-informed  person  knows 
that  your  world,  as  a  whole,  is  better  to-day  than  it  ever 
was  before.  You  enjoy  more  security,  more  kindness, 
more  intelligence  and  more  freedom  than  you  ever  did 
in  any  preceding  age.  The  conditions  which  we  find 
on  earth  arc,  as  a  whole,  undoubtedly  nearly  in  tune 
with  your  social  and  industrial  culture;  and  the  only 
known  power  in  the  universe  that  can  substitute  a 
higher  and  nobler  order  of  things  is  additional  intelli- 
gence. Acts,  as  we  have  seen,  are  always  in  harmony 
with  the  intelligence  of  the  actor. 

"We  can  not  hope  to  find  much  good  work  done  in 
a  world  where  the  division  of  labor  is  so  imperfect  as 
it  is  here  with  you.  Your  so-called  farmer  is,  as  a  rule, 
at  the  same  time  agricultiu'ist,  horticultiu'ist,  stock- 
breeder, butcher,  dairj-man,  shepherd,  carpenter  and 
poultry  raiser.  On  the  other  hand,  your  city  laborer 
must  frequently  be  idle,  or  accept  any  kind  of  labar  he 
can  get,  whether  he  is  proficient  in  it  or  whether  he  is 
a  bungler  at  it." 

126 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I27 

"  There  must  be  a  great  difference  between  our  insti- 
tutions and  yours,"  said  Mrs.  Uvvins. 

"In  some  respects  there  is,"  replied  Mr.  Midith. 
"Just  compare  the  appearance  and  conditions  of  our 
social  and  industrial  world  with  that  of  yours.  Think 
of  our  magnificent  residences — grand  edifices,  furnished 
on  the  interior  with  all  the  domestic  conveniences 
that  human  ingenuity  can  contrive.  The  outer  ap- 
pearance is  very  imposing;  numerous  large  windows 
through  which  are  seen  the  rich  curtains  and  through 
which  the  blitheful  laugh  of  the  inmates  can  be  heard, 
and  the  healthy  countenances  of  free,  rich  men,  wo- 
men, and  children  can  be  seen.  Think  how  all  these 
fine  dwellings  are  located  in  the  grandest  parks  that 
nature  and  art  can  produce;  how  all  varieties  of  flowers 
and  ornamental  trees  may  be  seen  in  all  directions. 
Think  of  the  green,  closely-mowed  lawn;  the  cool,  re- 
freshing fountain  playing  on  the  bosom  of  the  artificial 
lakes  in  which  men,  women  and  children  are  sport- 
ively swimming  and  bathing.  Think  how  the  odorifer- 
ous, life-giving  breeze  enters 'every  apartment  of  our 
palatial  homes,  which  are  neither  crowded  in  populous 
cities  nor  isolated  in  a  lonely  country.  Think  of  the 
smooth,  shady  boulevard  on  which  numerous  men, 
women  and  children  are  seeking  healthful,  sportive  ex- 
ercise. Think  of  the  spacious  conservatory  and  green- 
house, surrounded  by  glass,  and  containing  luxuriant 
tropical  plants,  whose  foliage  is  as  green,  even  when 
the  snow  is  two  feet  deep,  as  it  is  in  its  native  climate. 
Think  of  the  productive  garden,  bearing  the  choicest 
vegetables  that  evolution  through  the  hand  of  the  hor- 
ticulturist has  been  able  to  produce;  of  the  enticing 
orchard    with   its    endless  variety  of  fruit   trees   and 


128  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

shrubbery,  its  green  lawns,  and  clean  walks.  Think 
of  the  ease  with  which  our  farming  is  done,  and  the 
immense  amount  of  agricultural  work  we  can  do  in  a 
short  time.  Think  how  all  our  labor  has  turned  almost 
into  play,  and  how  much  leisure  time  we  enjoy.  And 
lastly,  think  of  the  intelligent  free,  rich,  healthy  inhab- 
itants who  have  all  learned  that  the  happiness  of  self 
includes  the  happiness  of  others.  Such,  upon  a  brief, 
superficial  contemplation,  are  a  few  of  the  more  con- 
spicuous differences  existing  between  our  system  and 
yours.  Yet  you  should  always  bear  in  mind  that  we 
have  nothing  on  Mars  but  what  you  can  have  right 
here  on  earth  with  a  little  additional  intelligence,  a  lit- 
tle more  knowledge  of  yourselves  and  your  fellowman. 
A  little  more  kindness  and  a  little  less  cruelty.  A  little 
more  peace  and  a  little  less  discord.  A  little  more  free- 
dom and  a  little  less  jealousy.  A  little  wider  and  more 
voluntary  co-operation  and  a  little  less  single-handed 
effort.  A  little  more  individualism  and  a  little  less 
paternalism  and  co-operative  coercion.  A  little  more 
confidence  in  the  operations  and  uniformity  of  the  so- 
called  laws  of  nature,  and  a  little  less  trust  in  the  pre- 
tended virtue  of  superstition.  I,  therefore,  repeat 
again  that  thousands  of  your  foremost  cultivated  men 
and  women  here  on  earth  are  already  prepared  to  live 
a  Marsian  life,  if  they  were  not  prevented  by  your  ex- 
isting institutions  and  by  the  masses  who  are  not  yet 
ready  for  such  a  harmonious  life." 

"You  ha\'e  not  told  us  an}'thing  about  your  min- 
ing," said  Mr.  Uwins.  "I  presume  you  do  that  with  as 
much  skill  and  facility  as  you  do  your  other  work." 

"Yes;  we  mine  on  the  same  large  plan  as  we  do  our 
other   work,"     replied     Mr.     Midith,     "Our     mining 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I29 

machinery  is  very  much  improved,  and  we  need  but 
little  muscular  power  in  the  occupation  of  mining.  We 
are  continually  sinking  more  and  deeper  shafts,  where- 
by we  increase  the  quantity  and  quality  of  our  mining 
products.  Every  few  communities  fit  out  a  'prospect- 
ing' gang,  who  are  constantly  employed  in  'prospect- 
ing' for  better  mines  in  those  communities  which 
they  represent;  and  wherever  we  find  the  most  pro- 
ductive ones,  we  work.  In  this  manner  we  find  the 
most  productive  mines,  and  the  best  iron  and  other 
useful  minerals.  We  have  also  discovered  how  to 
manufacture  aluminium  successfully  and  cheaply.  This 
metal,  on  account  of  its  cheapness  and  advantageous 
properties,  is  now  very  largely  used  for  mechanical, 
architectural  and  other  purposes. 

"Much  of  our  mining  is  done  in  the  winter.  Many 
of  those  who  work  on  the  farm  during  the  summer, 
work  in  the  factory  and  mine  during  the  winter.  Some 
of  the  agriculturists  also  work  in  the  green-house  dur- 
ing the  winter.  In  this  manner,  you  see,  our  work  of 
the  whole  year  is  divided  nearly  uniformly.  That  is, 
we  have  as  much  work  to  do  one  season  of  the  year  as 
another;  and  whenever  we  are  in  need  of  more  help  in 
one  occupation,  for  instance,  such  as  harvesting,  we 
can  get  all  the  help  we  need  from  the  factory  and  the 
mine.  By  this  change,  we  are  never  crowded  in  any 
work,  nor  are  we  ever  out  of  work.  These  conditions 
are  highly  conducive  to  human  well-being.  The  body 
is  not  burdened  with  overwork  at  one  period  of  the 
year  and  stupefied  on  account  of  inactivity  at  another." 

"Do  you  have  many  accidents  in  your  mines?" 
asked  Rev.  Dudley,  who  became  more  and  more  inter- 
ested in  Mr.  Midith's  narrative. 

9 


130  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"Very  rarely  one  loses  his  life  by  accident  in  our 
mine.  We  value  life  so  highly  that,  if  things  are  not 
very  secure,  no  one  will  go  into  the  mine.  We  are 
not  driven  by  a  'boss'  and  by  poverty,  like  many  of 
your  miners  are,  who  have  to  go  or  lose  their  position. 
We  go  when  and  where  we  like.  No  one  has  the 
power  to  throw  us  out  of  employment  nor  to  make  us 
poor. 

"  There  is  still  another  important  mining  feature 
which  I  have  not  explained  to  you,  and  that  is  this: 
The  more  we  prospect  the  more  evenly  do  we  find  the 
mining  products  distributed  on  our  world.  Nearly 
every  community  can  now  work  a  mine  of  some  kind 
with  advantage. 

"From  what  I  have  said,  you  no  doubt  understand 
by  this  time  that  we  have  long  ago  abandoned  the  use 
of  coal  for  heating  and  lighting  purposes,  and  also  for 
the  generating  of  motive  power.  We  use  electricity 
and  compressed  air  for  all  this.  We  employ  wonder- 
fully simple  and  powerful  storage  battery  cells,  which 
we  charge  either  with  wind  power,  water  power  or  with 
compressed  air  engines.  Is  it  not  strange  that  the  peo- 
ple of  earth  are  already  imitating  us  in  these  fields  ?  Your 
Paris,  in  France,  is  already  using  the  storage  battery 
cells  for  lighting  purposes.  I  notice  in  your  Sciett- 
tific  American  of  Jan.  30,  1892,  that  Niagara  Falls  and 
Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  are  about  to  utilize  the  waterfall  power 
at  that  place  for  generating  electricity  and  compress- 
ing air.     This  is  what  the  Scientific  American  says: 

"  'After  the  completion  of  the  great  tunnel  works 
now  in  progress  at  Niagara  Falls,  there  will  be  nothing 
to  hinder  the  rapid  rise  and  growth  of  that  interesting 
town  into  a  great  and  wonderful  city.     Its  dwellings 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I31 

and  factories  will  be  supplied  with  light,  heat  and  mo- 
tive power  at  an  extremely  low  cost,  and  useful  indus- 
tries of  every  kind  ought  there  to  flourish  with  un- 
wanted vigor.  Domestic  life  will  be  attended  with 
many  comforts  and  conveniences.  The  cook  will  only 
need  to  touch  a  button,  and  presto!  her  electric  stove 
be  in  full  operation,  the  pot  will  boil,  the  oven  bake,  the 
turkey  roast,  the  pump  move,  the  washing  machine 
turn;  while  the  electric  refrigerator  will  freeze  the 
water,  preserve  meat,  vegetables,  milk,  butter,  eggs 
and  other  supplies.  No  coal,  no  wood,  no  dust,  no 
dirt,  no  oil,  no  gas.  The  lady  of  the  house  will  be  re- 
lieved of  care.  She  presses  a  button,  and  every  nook 
and  corner  of  her  dwelling  glow  with  cheerful  light. 
Touch  another,  and  the  electric  fire  glimmers  in  every 
room,  diffusing  genial  warmth.  The  electric  lift  takes 
her  up  or  down  stairs  in  a  jiffy.  The  telephone  con- 
veys her  orders  to  market  and  distributes  her  social 
commands  among  friends  and  neighbors.  Niagara  is 
in  a  fair  way  to  become  famous  as  the  great  electrical 
city  of  the  world.  At  any  rate,  it  will  possess  in  a  great 
degree  the  means  for  economic  electric  generation  and 
supply. 

"  'Near  to  Niagara,  only  twenty-five  miles  distant, is 
Buffalo,  already  a  large  and  prosperous  city,  the  head 
center  of  lake  navigation.  The  simple  extension  of 
conductors  over  the  short  distance  above  mentioned  will 
bring  to  the  people  of  Buffalo  a  direct  share  in  the  eco- 
nomic and  other  advantages  of  the  new  and  great  enter- 
prise. Light,  heat  and  motive  power  for  streets,  vehi- 
cles, work-shops,  factories,  stores,  churches,  dwell- 
ings can  be  supplied  from  the  dynamos  at  Niagara, 
more  economically,  probably,  than  by  any  other  means. 


n,2 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    IxNDIVIDUALISM. 


Local  steam  engines  maybe  dismissed;  their  occupa- 
tion for  Buffalo  will  be  gone.  Even  the  steam  fire 
engine  may  retire.  The  electric  pump  will  beat  them 
out  of  sight. 

"  'We  look  toward  Niagara  and  Buffalo  with  hopeful 
interest,  expecting  soon  to  witness  these  many  novel 
applications  of  electricity  for  industrial,  domestic  and 
municipal  purposes.  In  the  latter  category  the  promo' 
tion  of  the  public  health  and  the  expulsion  of  disease  by 
electrical  agencies  seem  to  be  among  the  reasonable 
possibilities  of  the  near  future.' 


':^;^-'''^«ifJ*i^^ 


"The  Scientific  Ainerican  of  Jan.  9,  1892,  also  shows 
a  cut  of  an  electric  carriage  propelled  by  storage  bat- 
tery cells,"  said  Mr.  Midith,  as  he  showed  the  cut  of  it 
and  began  to  read  as  follows: 

"  'The  graceful  vehicle  illustrated  in  the  accompany- 
ing picture  is  interes*-.ing,  as'being  undoubtedly  the  first 
carriage  propelled  by  electricity  built  in  the  West.  It 
is  the  invention  of  William  Morrison,  of  Des  Moines, 
la.,  and  was  built  by  Morrison  and  Schmidt,  of  that 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I33 

city.  It  is  intended  for  operation  on  ordinary  city  and 
country  roads  and  will  carry  twelve  people  comfort- 
ably. 

"  'The  power  is  furnished  by  24  storage  battery  cells 
placed  beneath  the  seats. ..  .This  motor  is  of  four 
horse  power.... The  steering  is  attached  to  the  for- 
ward axle  and  is  controlled  by  a  hand  wheel  in  front 
of  the  carriage.  Mr.  Morrison  claims  that  his  carriage 
has  been  exhaustively  and  successfully  tested  in  Des 
Moines,  and  that  it  has  been  run  continuously  13  hours, 
attaining  a  speed  of  14  miles  an  hour.  He  thinks  that 
a  much  higher  velocity  can  be  attained  if  desirable.'" 

Mr.  Midith  continued:  "I  noticed  in  the  Western 
Electrician  of  Sept.  17,  1892,  that  J.  B.  McDonald,  pres- 
ident of  the  American  Battery  Company,  Chicago, 
purchased  this  electric  carriage  and  is  creating  quite 
an  excitement  with  it  on  the  streets  of  Chicago. 

"  From  the  foregoing  articles  appearing  in  your 
Scientific  American,  we  clearly  see  that  the  earthites 
(people  living  on  earth)  are  closly  following  the 
Marsites  in  their  mechanical,  as  well  as  in  their  other 
lines  of  progress.  Of  course  all  your  electric  appa- 
ratus and  work  is,  as  yet,  but  the  rude  beginnings.  All 
it  needs  is  improvement.  There  is  ah  inexhaustible 
amount  of  electricity,  and  all  you  need  do  is  to  store  it 
up  for  use.  Formerly  we,  like  you  now,  used  coal,  wood 
and  gas  for  lighting,  heating  and  motive  purposes. 
But  all  of  these  were  slowly  supplanted  by  compressed- 
air  engines  and  electricity. 

"Our  large  warehouses,  factories,  and  mills  built 
along  the  motor-lines  at  short  intervals,  have  on  their 
large  flat  roofs,  powerful  windmills  which  continually 
pour  a  strong  current  of  electricity  into  a  capacious  elec- 


134  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

trie  reservoir,  or  they  are  charging  storage  battery 
cells. 

"In  some  localities  on  Mars,  we  still  use  compressed 
air.  The  powerful  windmills  are  always  compressing 
air  for  the  compressed-air  engines.  Our  compressed- 
air  engines  are  almost  similar  to  yours,  but  with  you 
the  compressed-air  engine  is  not  a  success  on  account 
of  your  limited  storage  room  for  the  compressed  air,  and 
also  on  account  of  occasional  local  calms,  during  which 
time  your  supply  of  compressed  air  becomes  exhausted. 

"We  have  overcome  these  difficulties.  The  com- 
munities of  a  large  area  of  country  are  all  connected  by 
large  air-tubes,  into  which  the  windmills  are  compress- 
ing air.  At  certain  intervals  along  these  air-tubes  are 
capacious  air  chambers  for  the  reception  of  air.  These 
air-tubes  are  all  around  the  communities  the  samiC  as 
the  motor-lines,  passing  through  all  the  'big-houses,' 
warehouses,  factories  and  mills,  where  they  drive  com- 
pressed-air engines,  which  furnish  all  the  motive  power 
for  generating  electricity  and  do  all  the  other  motor 
work.  Thus  you  see  by  this  arrangement,  we  have  a 
vast  supply  of  air  on  hand,  and  there  is  always  a  local 
wind  somewhere  over  this  extensive  district  of  com- 
munities which  are  connected  by  these  air  tubes. 

"Where  electricity  is  generated  and  stored  directly 
by  wind  power,  which  it  is  most  places,  the  electric 
currents  are  led  through  all  the  buildings,  'big-houses,' 
warehouse,  factories,  mills  and  barns.  Here  it  is  used 
for  heating,  Jighting,  and  motive  power  for  loading 
and  unloading  and  for  running  machinery.  Water- 
power  is  also  largely  used  for  the  generation  of  elec- 
tricity. Our  carriages,  farming  machinery,  and  all  other 
movable  vehicles  and  machinery,  are  propelled  by  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  1 35 

electric  storage  battery  cell.  These  cells  are  with  us  now 
very  simple,  powerful  and  lasting.  Every  community  has 
a  large  supply  of  them  stored  for  reserve,  the  same  as  you 
have  a  supply  of  coal  on  hand,  and  our  model  windmills 
and  waterfalls  are  charging  them  faster  than  we  need 
them.  The  force  which  manifests  itself  in  the  current 
of  air  which  drives  the  windmills  is  stored  for  future 
use,  and  this  storing  is  being  done  just  the  same, 
whether  it  is  winter  or  summer,  whether  w'e  work  or 
sleep.  The  irregular  motion  of  the  wind  is  thus 
changed  into  a  perfectly  iiniforjn  motion  of  electricity 
and  then  applied  to  machinery. 

"Thus  you  see,  we  do  not,  like  you,  need  water  and 
fuel  to  run  our  engines,  nor  do  we  need  draft-animals 
to  draw  our  plows  and  other  vehicles.  Some  com- 
munities, in  order  to  charge  their  storage  battery  cells, 
ship  them  to  great  waterfalls.  Electricity  is  also  led  by 
wires  for  long  distances,  and  everywhere  you  are  fol- 
lowing us  step  by  step.  It  is  true  that  your  mechan- 
ical appliances  are  still  very  rude,  but  you  are  improving 
them  very  rapidly,  and,  no  doubt,  you  will  before  long 
make  wonderful  achievements  in  the  electric  and 
other  lines  of  discoveries.  In  order  to  show  your 
progress  in  the  field  of  electric  science,  let  me  read  to 
you  another  article  from  the  Scientific  American  of 
March  12,  1892."  Then  Mr.  Midith  read  as  follows: 
"  'One  Hundred  Miles  an  Hour  by  Electricity! 

"  '  The  latest  electrical  scheme  is  for  an  electric  rail- 
way between  Chicago  and  St.  Louis.  The  following  is 
from  the  prospectus  of  the  Chicago  &  St.  Louis  Electric 
Railroad  Co.,  working  under  the  patents  of  Dr.  Well- 
ington Adams: 

"  'The  proposed  road  will   be   operated   from  one 


136  PRACTICAL    CU-UFliKATl\  K    1M)1\T  ^UA1.1SM^ 

central  station,  located  at  the  mouth  of  a  coal  mine 
somewhere  near  the  center  of  the  road.  The  railway 
company  will  operate  this  mine  by  means  of  electric 
mining  locomotives,  electric  drills,  electric  cutters,  and 
electric  lights,  which  will  greatly  cheapen  the  present 
cost  of  the  ordinary  system  of  mining  coal.  The  pos- 
sibility and  economy  of  this  method  of  mining  has 
already  been  established  beyond  dispute.  The  com- 
pany will  sell  the  good  coal  that  is  mined  at  a  hand- 
some profit,  and  use  only  the  waste,  dust  and  slack  to 
run  the  engines  which  develop  the  power  for  operating 
the  mine  and  road,  in  connection  with  its  distributing 
system  of  light  and  power  for  consumers  along  the 
line  of  road.  At  the  present  time  such  dust  and  slack 
is  not  only  valueless,  but  has  to  be  hauled  away  at  the 
expense  of  the  mining  company.  The  road  will  be 
divided  up  into  twenty-five  sections  of  ten  miles  each, 
which  will  constitute  a  complete  block  system,  making 
it  impossible  for  any  two  cars  to  run  at  a  high  speed 
upon  any  single  section  at  the  same  time,  thus  making 
collisions  impossible.  There  will  be  a  complete  block 
signaling  system  by  means  of  incandescent  electric 
lights,  with  telephonic  communication  between  cars 
upon  the  same  section,  whether  running  or  standing 
still.  The  road  will  be  illuminated  by  incandescent 
electric  lamps  for  one  mile  ahead  and  one  mile  behind 
every  car  while  running.  It  will  be  built  in  a  practi- 
cally straight  line,  and  as  far  as  possible  will  avoid  grade 
crossings  of  other  roads.  At  all  grade  crossings, 
whether  wagon  or  railroad,  a  red  electric  light  will  be 
displayed  and  an  electric  bell  rung  for  two  minutes 
before  it  is  time  for  the  train  to  pass.  It  is  intended 
to  ultimately  construct  four  tracks — two  outside  tracks 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I37 

for  local  traffic  and  high  class  freight,  while  the  two 
inner  tracks  will  be  used  exclusively  for  through  pas- 
senger traffic,  mail  and  high  class  express.  The  through 
cars  will  not  stop  anywhere  between  the  two  terminal 
cities  between  which  they  run.  Spurs  or  branches  will 
be  run,  connecting  the  large  cities  along  the  line  of  the 
road  with  the  main  through  tracks,  and  from  these 
cities  to  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  without  stop.  Ulti- 
mately a  street  will  be  run  along  the  sides  of  these 
tracks,  along  which  dwelling  houses  and  stores  will  be 
built.  On  both  sides  of  these  avenues  the  land  will, 
ultimately,  be  laid  out  in  building  lots  one  hundred 
feet  front  by  two  hundred  feet  deep,  giving  an  area  of 
half  an  acre  to  each  lot.  These  lots  will  be  bought  by 
people  from  town  seeking  the  healthy  air  of  the  country 
and  pleasant  homes  within  quick  and  cleanly  access  of 
the  city.  Back  of  them  they  will  have  the  open  farm 
lands,  and  in  front  of  them  the  boulevard  with  the 
electric  railway,  telephone  and  electric  light;  practically 
uniting  Washington  avenue,  St.  Louis,  with  Michigan 
avenue,  Chicago,  by  one  grand  electric  highway  or 
boulevard,  along  which  the  farmer  may  secure  electric 
light  and  power  for  pumping,  plowing,  thrashing, 
chopping  and  mixing  fodder,  shelling  and  grinding 
corn,  and  harvesting  at  night  in  case  of  emergency; 
and  the  rural  resident  may  secure  electric  lights  for  the 
illumination  of  his  dwelling,  and  electricity  for  heating 
and  cooking,  and  electric  power  for  domestic  purposes. 
Along  this  road  there  will  ultimately  be  a  constant 
stream  of  travel.  The  population  will  be  scattered  out 
into  the  country,  and  the  centers -of  trade  and  business 
relieved  of  their  surplus,  leaving  more  room  for  busi- 
ness establishments  near  the  great  centers  of  trade, 


138  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

taking  out  of  the  great  bustle  and  crowd  of  the  city 
those  who  are  not  immediately  engaged  in  trade,  and 
leaving  room  for  those  who  are.  The  result  will  be  of 
incalculable  benefit  to  the  whole  population  and  land 
holders  throughout  the  district  through  which  the  pro- 
posed road  will  traverse.  It  will  bring  into  use  and 
market  a  large  amount  of  real  estate  hitherto  of  but 
little  value. 

'"Either  of  the  three  routes  which  this  road  proposes 
to  take  between  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  will  be  at  least 
thirty-three  miles  shorter  than  the  shortest  of  the  ex- 
isting steam  routes.  The  standard  schedule  time  of  all 
through  cars  will  be  one  hundred  miles  per  hour.  The 
trip  from  St.  Louis  to  Chicago  can,  therefore,  be  made 
in  from  two  and  a  half  to  three  hours.  It  will  be  un- 
necessary to  travel  at  night,  therefore  no  through  pas- 
senger cars  will  be  run  after  nine  o'clock  p.  m.,  the  tracks 
being  reserved  at  night  for  high-class  freight,  express 
and  mail.  This  does  away  with  the  necessity  of  running 
Pullman  cars,  and  the  expense  to  the  company  attend- 
ant thereon,  as  well  as  to  the  traveling  public.  No  man 
will  care  about  traveling  at  night  when  he  can  travel 
in  the  daytime  over  a  cleanly  road  which  will  land  him 
so  quickly  at  his  destination.  Farmers  along  the  line 
can  build  cheap  side  switches  with  light  rails,  which 
will  enable  cars  to  be  run  directly  to  the  doors  of  their 
barns  and  granaries,  to  facilitate  the  transportation  of 
the  produce  of  their  land,  thus  rendering  them  largely 
independent  of  the  condition  of  the  ordinary  wagon 
roads,  which,  by  the  way,  have  become  very  poor 
through  neglect  since  the  inauguration  of  the  railroad 
system.  Thus  will  the  large  markets  of  St.  Louis  and 
Chicago  be  practically  at   the    door  of  every   farmer 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I39 

througho.It  this  district,  for  the  sale  of  his  perishable 
pioduce.  The  moment  the  proposed  road  is  completed 
and  put  in  operation,  all  lands  throughout  the  district 
traversed  by  the  road  will  be  increased  in  value  from 
one  to  two  hundred  per  cent,  and  ultimately,  and  that 
at  a  day  not  very  far  distant,  the  land  immediately  con- 
tiguous to  the  road  will  be  selling  by  the  front  foot 
instead  of,  as  at  present,  by  the  acre,  with  very  little 
demand  for  even  this. 

'"It  will,  of  course,  be  to  the  highest  interest  of  this 
company  to  build  this  road  and  get  it  in  operation  in 
time  for  the  World's  Fair,  so  as  to  secure  the  immense 
tiaffic  mcident  thereto.     It  is  entirely  practicable,  says 
he  prospectus,  to  build  such  a  road  within  the  time  al- 
otted.     Steam  roads  of  a  much  more  difficult  charac- 
ter have  been  built  much  more  rapidly;    for  instance, 
the  Texas  &  Pacific  extension  was  built  a  distance  of 
615  miles  in  twenty-two  months,  four  hundred  miles  of 
which  was  through  a  region  entirely  destitute  of  rail- 
roads and  even  of  population,    the   cattle  men  at  that 
time  having  failed  even  to  penetrate  the  greater  por- 
tion wih  their  herds.     The  country   was    of  a  rough 
and  hilly  character,  many  summits  being  as  high  as 
three  and  four  thousand  feet,  with  such  modifications  of 
climate  as  to  make  a  trip  across  the  country  a  series 
of   continual  surprises.     For  a  great  portion  of   the 
road  a  rate  of  two   miles   for  every  working  day  was 
maintained  for  several  months.     Ties,  fuel,  and  bridge 
imber  had  to  be  transported   from  East  Texas,  a  dfs^ 
tance  of  from   four  to  six  hundred  miles;    rails  from 
Pennsylvania,  seventeen    hundred    miles;     and    water 
from  wherever  it  could  be  gotten  along  the  line      The 
present  proposed  road  will  have  none  of  these  difficul- 


140  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

ties  to  contend  with.  It  will  have  a  practically  level 
country  over  which  to  build  its  road,  which  will  be 
crossed  at  intervals  by  steam  roads,  which  can  be  util- 
ized for  the  transportation  of  its  materials.  An  in- 
teresting fact  may  be  stated  in  this  connection,  that 
contracts  can  be  made  for  the  delivery  of  rails  for  the 
entire  road  within  six  weeks  from  the  day  of  giving  the 
order. 

"  'The  electric  carriage  or  car  that  will  be  run  upon 
this  proposed  electric  road  is  a  long,  low,  compact, 
light  but  strong  car,  having  two  pairs  of  driving  wheels, 
each  of  which  are  driven  by  a  separate  and  distinct 
electric  motor.  The  whole  weight  of  the  car,  with  its 
passengers,  and  of  the  two  electric  motors,  comes  upon 
these  two  pairs  of  driving  wheels,  and  is,  therefore,  all 
available  for  traction,  or  adhesion  between  the  rails 
and  the  wheels,  through  the  agency  of  which  the  car  is 
propelled.  The  top  of  the  car  stands  only  nine  feet 
from  the  rail,  which  is  three  feet  lower  than  the  ordi- 
nary street  car.  This  brings  the  center  of  gravity  very 
low  and  near  to  the  track,  which  decreases  immensely 
the  danger  of  jumping  the  track.  It  has  a  wedge-shaped 
nose  or  front  for  cutting  the  air,  which  has  the  effect  of 
decreasing  the  air  resistance  and  of  helping  to  keep  the 
car  down  upon  the  track.  The  motor  man  stands  im- 
mediately back  of  this  wedge-shaped  front,  and  be- 
tween his  department  and  the  rear  wheels  is  the  com- 
partment for  the  accommodation  of  passengers.  In  the 
rear  of  this  is  a  separate  compartment  for  mail  and 
high  express.  The  driving  wheels  are  six  feet  in  diam- 
eter, and  are  capable  of  making  500  revolutions  in  a 
minute.  The  weight  of  the  entire  car,  with  its  motors, 
is  but  ten  tons.  It  maybe  interesting  in  this  connection 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I4I 

to  state  that  a  steam  locomotive,  to  make  the  same 
speed,  if  it  were  practicable,  would  have  to  weigh  in 
the  neighborhood  of  one  hundred  tons,  and  the  present 
locomotive  weighs  from  sixty  to  ninety  tons.  These 
electric  carriages  or  cars  will  be  illuminated  and  heated 
by  electricity,  and  will  contain  all  the  modern  appoint- 
ments for  the  comfort  of  passengers.  There  will  be  no 
conductors  and  no  brakemen.  It  will  be  possible  to 
stop  the  car  within  half  a  mile  by  means  of  the  motors 
themselves  and  auxiliary  electric  brakes.' 

"This  is  a  grand  scheme  for  the  people  of  earth.  I 
have  read  this  article  to  show  that  you  are  not  so  far 
behind  the  Marsites  in  the  science  of  mechanics  as  the 
masses  of  the  common  people  seem  to  believe.  This 
article  clearly  shows  that  what  I  have  told  you  con- 
cerning our  mechanical  science  is  not  a  dream,  but  can 
by  a  little  improvement,  by  a  little  more  genius,  and 
by  a  little  wider  voluntary  co-operation,  be  applied 
equally  well  right  here  on  earth.  You  need  nothing 
new,  but  only  improve  on  what  you  already  have.  I 
believe  that  the  proposed  enterprise  is  the  grandest 
lesson  in  transportation  and  intercommunication  that 
the  people  of  the  earth  have  so  far  conceived.  There 
are  still  many  monopolistic  features  in  it  as  far  as  the 
social  and  economic  principles  are  concerned,  but  this 
proposed  railway  with  its  lines  of  boulevards  is  a  kind 
of  a  rude,  primitive  community,  which  will  no  doubt 
grow  in  regularity,  freedom  and  equitable  prosperity." 

"How,  Mr.  Midith,  do  you  conduct  your  manufact- 
uring industry?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins  after  Mr.  Midith  had 
finished  speaking.  "I  suppose  you  manufacture  a  great 
many  nice  things." 

"Our  manufacturing  is,  of  course,  done  on  a  large 


142  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

scale,  and  mostly  in  those  localities  where  the  natural 
resources  are  best  adapted  for  it.  The  advantages  of 
manufacturing  on  a  large  scale  are  many  and  impor- 
tant. Let  us  exemplify  this  more  fully.  When  every 
individual  had  to  make  his  own  garments  and  his  own 
house,  like  primitive  people  do,  both  clothes  and  houses 
w^ere  scarce  and  poor,  for  several  reasons  which  you 
undoubtedly  understand.  It  is  necessary,  in  order  to 
manufacture  a  good  article  with  little  labor,  first,  to  be 
a  skillful  workman,  and,  second,  to  have  good  tools  and 
machinery  to  work  with.  The  same  person  cannot  be 
skilled  in  all  trades,  and,  even  if  he  could,  he  should 
still  manufacture  on  a  large  scale;  for  it  would  require 
far  too  much  needless  labor  for  every  person  to  own  as 
good  machinery  and  tools  as  many  men  can  afford  to 
own  tos:cthcr,  and  the  better  the  tools  and  machinery,  the . 
more  and  the  better  goods  can  be  manufactured  with  the 
same  amount  of  labor.  Every  individual  can  not  own 
a  good  tailor  shop,  a  convenient  shoe  factory  and  a 
large  watchmaking  establishment.  'Division  of  labor' 
should  be  as  complete  as  possible,  not  only  among 
individuals,  but  among  communities  as  well. 

"For  instance,  we  have  very  large  flouring  mills, 
which  have  all  the  latest  improved  milling  machinery 
in  them.  This  machinery  is  very  costly,  and  it  would 
not  be  wise  to  have  such  a  mill  in  each  community. 
Therefore,  one  community  manufactures  one  article 
and  another  community  manufactures  another,  and 
some  do  not  manufacture  much  at  all." 

"Do  you  manufacture  extraordinary  fine  cloth, 
jewelry,  dress  goods,  etc.?"  asked  Viola  somewhat  in- 
quiringly, as  she  glanced  at  Mr.  Midith. 

Mr.  Midith  smiled   with  apparent  satisfaction  and 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I43 

replied:  "Indeed,  we  make  fine  cloths,  some  elegant 
jewelry,  but  we  manufacture  no  dress  goods.  You  see 
we  have  no  use  for  dress  goods,  because  our  ladies  do 
not  wear  dresses  like  you  do." 

"Do  your  ladies  honestly  wear  no  dresses!"  ex- 
claimed Viola  astonishingly.  "What  a  strange  world! 
a  world  without  a  dress  in  it!" 

"Yes;  our  ladies  wear  no  dresses,"  responded  Mr. 
Midith;  "but  we  are  digressing  from  our  subject.  Some 
other  evening  I  shall  fully  describe  our  costume  of 
both  ladies  and  gentlemen." 

"Does  not,  then,  manufacture  and  mining  give  a 
denser  population  to  a  community  than  a  community 
has  which  is  engaged  almost  exclusively  in  agricult- 
ure?" asked  Mr.  Uwins. 

"Yes;  they  have  a  tendency  to  increase  the  density 
of  population  in  a  community  above  the  average.  But 
a  mine  or  factory  which  employs  10,000  hands  is  quite 
large;  and  an  increase  of  ten  thousand  in  a  community 
having  in  an  average  a  population  of  120,000  is  not  a 
large  increase." 

"There  is  one  feature  in  your  system,  Mr.  Midith,  I 
can  not  yet  see  into,  and  I  should  like  to  have  you 
make  that  a  little  plainer  if  you  can,"  said  Rev.  Dudley, 
"and  that  feature  is  about  the  density  of  population.  I 
may  be  dull  in  comprehension,  but  it  does  not,  in  my 
opinion,  figure  out  well.  You  say  that  a  square  mile  of 
land  can,  under  the  same  conditions,  support  as  many, 
and  no  more,  human  beings  on  Mars  than  it  can 
on  earth.  You  further  say  that  your  communities 
contain  about  four  townships;  have,  in  an  average, 
about  120,000  inhabitants.  Four  townships  contain 
144  square  miles.     This  gives  a  population  of  over  8oo 


144  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

to  the  square  mile,  while  Belgium,  the  most  densely 
populated  country  on  earth,  has  only  a  little  over  500 
to  the  square  mile;  and  political  economists,  I  think, 
unanimously  agree  that,  without  importation,  the  land 
of  Belgium  can  not  raise  sufficient  products  to  support 
its  own  population." 

"  Rev.  Dudley,  I  think  that  I  fully  agree  with  your 
political  economists  on  the  Belgium  question  of  popu- 
lation. It  is  very  likely  true  that  the  land  of  Belgium 
can,  under  your  social  and  industrial  system,  not  sup- 
port, without  importation,  its  own  inhabitants;  but  that 
does  not  argue  in  favor  of  the  fact  that  the  Marsites, 
under  a  different  social  and  industrial  system,  can  sus- 
tain, in  superfluity,  a  population  nearly  twice  as  dense 
as  that  of  Belgium.  I  said  wider  the  same  conditions 
the  earth  can  sustain  as  dense  a  population  as  Mars 
can,  but  the  conditions  are  not  the  same.  With  a  little 
patience  and  close  attention,  I  think  I  shall  be  able  to 
clear  up  this  question  for  you  satisfactorily. 

"Let  us  take  an  illustration.  If  the  American 
Indians,  who  formerly  lived  a  hunter's  life  on  the  pres- 
ent area  of  the  United  States,  had  been  questioned 
before  the  discovery  of  America  about  the  density  of 
population  of  their  country,  they  would,  no  doubt, 
have  said  that  their  country  was  more  densely  popu- 
lated at  that  time  than  it  had  ever  been  before,  and 
that  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  for  the  land  area 
comprising  the  present  limits  of  the  United  States  to 
support  a  population  of  over  sixty  millions  of  people 
who  eat  and  waste  so  much,  who  wear  so  many  good 
clothes,  and  who  live  in  such  good  wigwams  as  the 
people  of  the  United  States  actually  do  at  the  present 
time.     Those  Indians  would  undoubtedly  have  further 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I45 

argued  that  they  had  better  weapons  and  tools,  better 
wigwams,  better  clothes  and  better  food  than  any  of 
their  ancestors  had  enjoyed,  and  that  therefore  the 
earth  would  be  unable  to  do  much  better  than  it  is 
already  doing.  But  you,  the  white  man,  actually 
showed  the  Indians  differently,  when  you  settled 
among  them.  You  changed  the  system  of  making  a 
livelihood,  to  something  of  which  the  Indians  had 
never  thought;  and  very  likely  if  one  could  have  pro- 
pounded a  system  similar  to  your  present  one,  he 
would  have  been  branded  a  traitor  to  his  country,  and 
a  heretic  to  his  religion.  Instead  of  leading  a  hunter's 
life,  which  requires  a  large  territory  and  a  sparse  popu- 
lation, you  partially  live  on  agricultural  products,  and 
partially  on  domestic,  instead  of  wild,  animals.  The 
Indian  lived  almost  exclusively  on  a  flesh  diet — game, 
while  you  cultivate  the  soil  and  raised  stock.  Your 
industrial  system  is  able  to  support  a  population  vastly 
more  dense  than  the  Indian's  system  was  capable  of 
supporting.  So  you  see,  the  error  was  not  that  the 
earth  is  unable  to  sustain  a  denser  population  than  the 
Indian's,  but  that  the  Indian  was  not  livang  under  that 
social  and  industrial  system  which  is  capable  of  sus- 
taining a  dense  population.  The  Indians'  mistake 
was,  that  they  measured  the  possible  maximum  density 
of  population  by  the  standard  of  their  social  and  in- 
dustrial system.  They  knew  that  thousands  of  their 
companions  were  in  want,  and  that  they  were  frequent- 
ly pressing  on  subsistence  in  all  directions. 

"Just  so  it  is  with  you  at  the  present  time.  You 
are  apparently  always  figuring  on  what  can  be  done 
under  your  present  system.     You,  by  adopting  a  social 

and  industrial  system  which  is  capable  of  sustaining  a 
IQ 


146  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

denser  population,  showed  the  Indians  that  they  had 
not  reached  the  maximum  density  of  population.  Now 
I  want  to  show  you  that  you  are  as  mistaken  on  your 
present  density  of  population  as  the  Indians  were  on 
theirs. 

"We  have  seen  that  the  Indians  subsisted  almost 
exclusively  on  animal  food — game,  while  you  gradually 
became  more  and  more  a  vegetarian,  and  lived  on  the 
flesh  of  rt'<?;;/£'.y/?V  animals,  instead  of  uild  game.  Your 
system  is  capable  of  sustaining  a  denser  population 
than  the  Indian  system  is,  but  the  Marsites  have  con- 
tinued to  change  the  system  which  )ou  began  still  fur- 
ther; therefore  we  are  capable  of  supporting  a  popula- 
tion of  over  800  to  the  square  mile,  in  superfluity,  while 
you  are  sometimes  pressing  on  subsistence  with  a  pop- 
ulation of  much  less  that  100  to  the  square  mile. 

"Now  let  me  briefly  enumerate  a  few  of  the  most 
conspicuous  differences  existing  between  your  system 
and  ours,  which  enable  us  to  sustain  a  population  so 
much  denser  than  you  can.  A  vegetarian  requires 
much  less  land  area  than  a  flesh  eater,  and  we  are 
almost  exclusively  vegetarians,  while  you  are  partly 
vegetarians  but  largely  carnivorous  (flesh  eaters).  We 
are  wasting  no  land  for  the  production  of  tea,  coffee, 
tobacco,  intoxicating  liquor,  opium,  etc.,  which'  we 
claim  contain  very  little  if  any  nutriment.  Much  of 
your  crops  is  spoiled  and  damaged  by  curing  it  out 
doors;  we  do  all  our  drying  and  curing  artificially,  and 
not  a  particle  is  lost,  spoiled  or  damaged.  Our  clothing 
is  not  made  and  worn  so  wastefully,  and  our  fashions 
are  not  so, changeable  as  yours.  Our  manner  of  cook- 
ing and  eating  is  not  half  so  wasteful  a,s  yours.  We 
save  an  immense  amount  of  land  by  not  fencing  it  off 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  1 47 

into  little  lots  and  farms  like  you  do.  In  this  manner 
you,  first,  waste  the  land  occupied  by  the  fences;  sec- 
ondly, you  require  an  immense  amount  of  additional 
land  on  which  to  produce  the  fencing  material — posts 
and  lumber;  and  thirdly,  fencing  requires  labor  which 
involves  a  physiological  waste  that  must  be  repaired 
by  additional  food  raised  on  land.  We  get  our  build- 
ing material  nearly  all  02it  of  the  earth,  while  you  use 
largely  lumber,  etc.,  which  are  grown  on  the  land  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  Many  of  us  live  together  in  one 
house,  and  it  requires  much  less  labor  and  material  to 
build  and  maintain  one  large  residence  than  it  does  to 
build  and  maintain  many  smaller  ones.  By  extensive 
voluntary  co-operation,  we  are  enabled  to  do  much 
work  with  machinery  which  you  have  to  do  by  hand; 
for  instance,  such  as  digging  potatoes,  unloading  corn 
and  other  grain,  heating  and  lighting  the  apartments, 
etc.  We,  who  work  on  a  large  scale,  have  also  much 
work  for  each  machine,  while  you,  under  your  single- 
handed  system,  require  many  machines,  and  have  but 
little  work  for  each;  for  example,  a  self-binder  owned 
by  a  farmer,  who  has  perhaps  no  more  than  50  acres  of 
grain  to  cut  with  it,  while  the  machine  is  idle  and  de- 
caying all  the  rest  of  the  year. 

"  You  have  a  vast  amount  of  wealth  employed  in 
an  army  and  a  navy.  The  cavalry  horses  require  feed; 
the  man-of-war  requires  timber  for  its  construction; 
your  fortifications,  your  arsenals,  your  guns,  your  navy, 
etc.,  all  require  material  which  is  largely  produced  by 
the  land  surface.  Their  construction  requires  a  vast 
amount  of  unproductive  labor — a  physiological  waste 
which  must  be  repaired  by  food.  Then,  again,  you 
often  destroy  by  war  countless  millions  of  wealth;  in 


148  rRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

fact  you  sometimes  devastate  whole  countries.  We 
have  no  war,  no  armies  and  navies  to  support,  no 
destruction  of  wealth  by  war.  You  have  to  raise  food 
for  the  reparation  of  the  waste  caused  by  your  immense 
amount  of  unproductive  and  destructive  labor.  You, 
as  well  as  we,  require  an  immense  amount  of  power  to 
do  the  work:  to  build  the  houses,  to  plow,  sow,  and 
harvest,  to  heat  the  apartments,  to  run  the  train  and 
factory.  You  raise  and  feed  thousands  and  millions 
of  draft-animals,  horses,  oxen,  and  mules,  which  draw 
the  plow,  wagon,  etc.,  for  you;  they  all  have  to  be  fed 
with  feed  which  is  raised  on  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
and  which  requires  land  area  for  its  production.  We 
have  no  draft-animals  to  feed — no  hay  and  corn  to 
raise  for  them.  We  receive  all  our  motive  power  from 
the  atmospheric  current  and  water  power.  Thus  man, 
during  his  different  stages  of  ph}'sical  and  inttillectual 
advancement,  employs  different  motive  power.  Let 
us  illustrate. 

"In  his*  primitive  beginning,  man  carries  his  few 
burdens  for  transportation  on  his  back.  Then  he 
makes  his  slaves  do  it.  Further  on,  he  uses  the  back 
of  his  domestic  animals,  which  have  to  live  from  the 
vegetable  products  of  the  earth;  this,  as  I  have  said, 
requires  land  area,  and  man  by  his  labor  must  also  aid 
in  the  successful  production  of  this  feed.  A  little 
further  on  he  uses  the  direct  \\\\\^  power  for  propelling 
his  clumsy  ship  and  for  running  his  primitive  mill. 
Now  he  had  power  when  the  wind  blew  and  none  when 
it  was  calm;  it  was  all  uncertainty  and  irregularity. 
To  overcome  these,  he  invents  a  powerful  steam  engine 
which  runs  his  ships,  trains,  factories,  etc.  But  these 
engines  require  an   immense  quantity  of   water  and 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I49 

fuel.  This  water  is  often  difficult  to  get,  and  the  fuel 
has  to  be  raised  on  the  land  surface  in  the  form  of 
timber,  or  it  has  to  be  mined  out  of  the  earth;  either 
method  requires  millions  of  days  of  labor.  Still  a  little 
later  on,  man  learns  how  to  store  up  electricity  and 
successfully  compress  air  by  the  action  of  the  atmos- 
pheric currents  and  water  power.  He  lays  up  a  large 
supply  of  this  motive  power  for  future  use,  and  for 
unforeseen  emergencies.  This  laid  up  motive  power  in 
the  form  of  stored  electricity  and  compressed  air,  he 
can,  at  his  pleasure,  convert  into  uniform  mechanical 
motion.  He  applies  it  to  his  ships,  trains,  factories, 
land  engines,  vehicles,  and  all  other  machinery.  He 
uses  it  for  heating  and  lighting  purposes,  for  drying 
and  curing  his  grain  and  hay,  and  for  countless  other 
things  too  numerous  to  mention. 

"All  this  vast  motive  power  which  he  now  stores 
up  by  the  aid  of  evaporation  and  the  atmospheric  cir- 
culation inv^olves  scarcely  any  waste.  There  is  an  in- 
exhaustible quantity  of  it.  Millions  of  horse-powers 
are  daily  going  to  waste  on  every  square  mile  of  land 
and  sea.  Thus  the  burdenless  man  begins  to  walk  more 
erect  and  with  an  increased  elasticity  in  his  step.  His 
slave  is  emancipated.  His  draught  animal,  which  re- 
quired feed  and  care,  is  extinct.  The  pride  of  his  me- 
chanical genius,  the  steam  engine  for  which  he  had  to 
mine  the  coal  in  the  damp  mine,  has  also  disappeared 
from  the  stage  of  action.  And  now  the  Marsites  re- 
ceive all  their  motive  power  from  the  present  sunbeam 
without  being  first  organized  into  a  vegetable  or  animal, 
or  without  extracting  it  from  the  coal  which  was 
buried  millions  of  ages  ago. 

"Is  it  not  marvelous  how  the  human  mind,  with  its 


150  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

limited  experience,  has  discovered  such  complex  re- 
lations existing  between  certain  phenomena?  For  ex- 
amples, how  a  tiny  sunbeam,  after  having  traversed  the 
abyss  of  space  intervening  the  sun  and  our  planets, 
warms  the  atmosphere  in  certain  localities;  how  this 
produces  atmospheric  currents;  how  the  windmills, 
driven  by  these  currents,  charge  the  storage  battery 
cells,  and  fill  other  electric  reservoirs;  and  how 
these  cells  and  reservoirs  of  stored  power  furnish  the 
motive  power  for  train,  ship,  aerial  projectile,  factory, 
carriage,  plow,  elevator,  etc.,  etc.;  how  they  heat  and 
light  the  factories,  houses,  stables,  cars,  vehicles,  roads, 
etc.  What  a  grand  accomplishment  when  one  con- 
templates this!  What  a  display  of  human  ingenuity; 
and  yet  we  think  that  with  all  these  marvelous  achieve- 
ments, even  the  Marsites  are  only  living  in  the  dawn 
of  an  approaching  day  whose  effulgent  brilliancy  no 
human  intellect  has  thus  far  contemplated. 

"The  foregoing,  as  you  no  doubt  comprehend,  are 
a  few  of  the  many  reasons  why  we  can  support  a 
denser  population  than  you  can." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

COMMERCIAL    AND    MERCANTILE    SYSTEMS. 

The  next  time  we  met  to  listen  to  Mr.  Midith's  in- 
teresting narrative  and  to  his  vivid  description  of  the 
Marsian  world  was  on  a  pleasant,  calm  Sunday  after- 
noon. All  nature  seemed  to  be  glad  and  animated. 
The  earth  was  covered  with  green  grass.  The  flowers 
were  blooming.  The  ripe  strawberries  were  painting 
the  hillside  with  their  red  cheeks.  The  verdant  foli- 
age was  dressing  the  trees  and  shrubs  with  its  richest 
garments.  The  clear  little  brook,  not  far  from  Mr. 
Uwins'  residence,  was  sending  its  water  over  its  pebbly- 
bed  toward  the  mighty  ocean.  The  birds  were  singing 
their  songs  and  building  their  nests,  regardless  of  its 
being  Sunday. 

"  Would  it  not  be  pleasant  to  take  a  ramble  along 
the  running  brook,"  said  Mrs.  Uwins,  "and  after  we 
find  a  pleasant,  shady  place,  sit  down  on  the  green 
grass  and  have  Mr.  Midith  tell  us  about  their  commer- 
cial and  mercantile  systems.  I  would  like  to  know 
how  the  Marsitcs  carry  on  their  commerce  and  mer- 
cantile business — how  women  and  children  buy  and 
sell,  etc." 

We  all  agreed  to  Mrs.  Uwins'  proposition  of  spend- 
ing some  time  in  taking  a  ramble  among  the  trees. 

"Mr.  Midith,  I  believe  you  told  us  some  time  ago 
that  the  ladies  on  Mars  enjoy  equal  privileges  with  the 

151 


152  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

gentlemen  in  all  respects,"  said  Viola  with  a  somewhat 
mischievous  smile.  "  So  we  will  play  just  for  this 
afternoon  as  though  we  were  Marsites;  and  as  you  are 
not  as  well  acquainted  along  the  shores  of  our  little 
brook  as  I  am,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  asking  you 
for  your  company  instead  of  you  asking  me  for  mine. 
You  know  it  is  not  fashionable  with  us  for  a  lady  to 
ask  a  gentleman  for  his  company.  But,  as  you  say, 
if  you  are  used  to  it,  it  will  not  appear  rude  or  forward 
to  you  at  all." 

"  I  shall  certainly  be  proud  of  your  kind,  guiding 
hand,  for  you,  no  doubt,  have  often  before  strolled  in  the 
shade  of  those  trees  and  are  well  acquainted  with  the 
lay  of  the  country." 

With  this,  we  all  started  for  the  shady  brook;  even 
Rev.  Dudley  seems  to  have  forgotten  that  it  is  Sunday, 
After  wandering  for  some  time,  gathering  strawberries, 
and  making  bouquets,  we  came  to  a  fine  shade  tree, 
under  which  we  sat  down  on  the  dense  matting  of 
grass.  After  being  seated,  Mr.  Midith  was  requested 
to  proceed  with  his  explanation  of  the  Marsian  sys- 
tem of  commerce,  and  how  they  buy  and  sell  there. 

"In  order  to  give  you  a  clear  idea  of  our  commer- 
cial and  mercantile  systems,  it  becomes  necessary  to 
begin  at  the  bottom.  Along  the  motor-lines,  about 
four  miles  apart,  as  stated  before  (diagram  p.  58, 
Com.  2),  a  side-track  passes  through  a  large  ware- 
house, store-house,  and  factories  in  which  the  farm 
products  of  the  community  are  stored  away  for  safe- 
keeping and  for  transportation.  All  products  from  the 
farm  are  hauled  into  these  store-houses  with  land  en- 
gines, and  from  the  store-houses  it  is  taken  either  to 
the  depots  for  exportation,  to  the  mill  or  factory,  or  to 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  1 53 

the  kitchen  of  the  'big-house'  for  consumption.  In 
these  store-houses  the  land-engines  and  farming  imple- 
ments are  also  kept.  The  railroad  depots  are  located 
generally  wherever  a  motor- line  crosses  it.  The  rail- 
roads communicate  with  sea-ports  and  with  all  other 
parts  of  the  country.  Fast  electric  vessels  carry  on 
the  foreign  commerce.  But  foreign  commerce  is  not 
so  extensive  now  as  it  formerly  was.  Nearly  every 
country  now  produces  its  own  commodities  with  ad- 
vantage. Domestic  commerce  is  also  greatly  simpli- 
fied. There  are  no  populous  cities  to  which  the  agri- 
cultural products  must  be  shipped;  and  from  which  the 
agriculturists  and  inhabitants  of  country  places,  under 
your  system,  receive  the  agricultural  implements  and 
other  manufactured  commodities.  The  population,  as 
you  see,  is  almost  evenly  distributed  over  the  pro- 
ductive land  area  from  which  they  obtain  their  material 
subsistence. 

"The  motor-lines  are  built,  equipped  and  run  by 
the  contiguous  communities  between  which  they  are 
located,  except  the  freight  cars,  which  each  community 
furnishes  and  operates  for  itself.  No  passenger  fare  is 
charged  on  a  motor.  It  is  presumed  that  the  transporta- 
tion between  the  several  communities  is  nearly  equal. 
For  instance,  a  person  from  Community  No.  5  rides  on 
our  motor-line,  and  a  person  from  our  community  rides 
on  the  motor-line  of  Community  5.  So  a  passenger 
can  ride  on  any  motor  at  any  time  and  to  any  place  in 
his  own  country  at  least,  free  of  charge. 

"  Our  railroads  are  built  and  equipped  by  volun- 
tary subscriptions.  When  a  certain  scope  of  country 
wants  a  railroad,  the  inhabitants,  who  feel  so  inclined, 
of  the  adjacent  communities   which  are   interested   in 


154  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

the  road  will  advance  the  money.  A  few  communities, 
each  subscribing  75,000  days'  labor,  can  build  quite  a 
piece  of  road.  Of  course  each  individual  advances  as 
much  as  he  wishes.  The  community,  as  such,  takes  no 
part  in  it;  all  such  is  left  to  the  individual's  own  choice. 

"The  work  of  building  railroads  is  done  by  gangs  of 
men,  who  make  that  their  profession,  and  who  are  pro- 
vided with  the  very  best  tools,  graders,  and  everything 
necessary  to  produce  the  best  results  with  the  least 
amount  of  labor.  After  the  roads  are  built  and 
eciuipped,  they  are  operated  at  10  per  cent,  above  cost 
until  all  the  subscriptions  have  been  paid  back  to  those 
who  advanced  them,  after  which  they  are  always  oper- 
ated at  cost.  Every  one  who  rides  on  the  train  pays 
fare,  the  same  as  you  do.  The  only  difference  is,  that 
we  ride  at  cost  on  an  economically  operated  railroad, 
while  you  are  paying  the  stockholders  a  large  dividend 
on  an  extravagantly  operated  one. 

"  I  think  I  have  already  told  you  that  the  motor- 
lines  and  railroads  are  brilliantly  lighted  with  electric 
light  when  dark. 

"  So  we  notice  briefly  that  the  products  from  the 
farm  are  hauled  with  land  engines  to  the  warehouses  ; 
from  these  warehouses  it  is  conveyed  by  motors 
through  every  '  big-house  '  on  the  line,  where  it  can  be 
unloaded  for  use,  or  can  be  transported  to  a  depot  for 
exportation.  At  these  depots,  of  course,  we  receive 
also  the  imported  goods  brought  by  the  railroads.  As 
the  motor-line  passes  through  every  '  big-house,'  a  pas- 
senger is  enabled,  without  going  out  doors  in  the  rain 
or  snow,  to  step  on  a  motor,  wliich  will  take  him  to  a 
depot  where  he  can  board  a  fast  train,  by  which  he  can 
reach  any  part  of  the  country  in  a  short  time.    All  our 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM,  1 55 

motor  cars  and  other  vehicles  are  almost  noiseless. 
The  boxing  never  heat  and  wear  for  years  under  the 
highest  speed." 

"Your  commercial  department  is,  indeed,  very  per- 
fect and  convenient,"  said  Mr,  Uwins.  "  Every  per- 
son in  your  whole  country,  or  even  in  your  whole 
world,  can  travel  to  the  abode  of  any  other  person 
without  going  out  doors  or  in  the  dark." 

"Yes,  papa,"  said  Roland,  "and  one  can  ride  on  the 
motor  all  he  likes  for  nothing;  that  strikes  me  very 
favorably." 

"  Now  let  me  tell  you  how  our  mercantile  business 
is  conducted;  how  we  buy  and  sell,"  said   Mr.  Midith. 

"  But  the  mercantile  business  we  shall  not  be  able 
to  understand  fully  until  you  are  acquainted  with  our 
monetary  system,  or  medium  of  exchange. 

"We  have  tJu'ce  kinds  of  parties  that  do  business: 
I.  The  collectivity  which  we  call  the  community.  2, 
The  collectivity  which  we  call  the  family.  3.  The  indi- 
vidual. 

"  One  'big-house'  of  every  community,  we  call,  in 
short,  the  'Com,'  meaning  in  our  language  a  common 
business  place;  a  place  where  the  community's  busi- 
ness is  transacted,  such  as  selling  the  products  of  the 
comimDiity ,  which  are  not  needed  for  home  consump- 
tion ;  issuing  money,  receiving  the  remittances  from 
all  families'  and  communities'  sales,  paying  all  the 
families'  and  communities'  bills,  doing  the  printing 
for  the  community,  etc.  Under  the  head  of  government, 
I  shall  further  describe  its  function. 

"  Each  family  of  a  community  buys  for  its  own 
use  whatever  it  needs,  such  articles  as  dry  goods,  gro- 
ceries, furniture,  etc.,  and  the  individuals  buy  at  the 


156  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

family  stores.  The  storekeeper  buys  for  the  store 
what  he  thinks  the  people  may  want.  So  we  see  that 
each  individual  buys  and  sells  with  his  own  money, 
such  articles  as  clothing,  meals,  railroad  tickets,  barber 
and  laundry  tickets,  furniture  for  his  private  apartment, 
private  luxuries,  and  all  other  things  that  he  appropri- 
ates for  his  private  use.  The  individual  has  no  dicta- 
tor; no  censor. 

"We  have  no  such  a  thing  as  profit  in  our  mercan- 
tile system,  or  any  other  of  our  systems.  Every  article 
is  sold  at  cost,  including,  of  course,  the  cost  of  buying 
and  selling;  and  nothing  but  productive  labor  will  buy 
it.  Profit  is  wrong  because  it  is  always//?/^/ /^  a  person 
who  receives  nothing  for  it;  and  it  is  paid /^  the  person 
who  does  nothing  for  it.  Of  course,  we  have  no  hnv 
prohibiting  the  taking  of  profit,  but  under  a  Jicalthy,free 
competition,  profit  is  gradually  and  entirely  eliminated 
by  the  practically  equal  opportunity  enjoyed  by  each 
individual  and  by  each  community.  No  individual  or 
community  holds  any  monopolistic  advantages  over 
another.  A  stranger  can  buy  as  cheaply  in  any  family 
store  as  a  member  of  the  community  can.  Prices,  includ- 
ing transportation  charges,  are  nearly  uniform,  not 
only  all  over  the  same  country,  but  all  over  the  surface 
of  Mars.  You  also  want  to  bear  in  mind  that  under 
keen,  free  competition  and  a  comparatively  uniform 
supply,  prices  rarely  ever  fluctuate.  Thus  you  see  we 
have  no  place  for  a  speculator  and  a  schemer.  He 
would  not  make  enough,  with  his  profession,  in  ten 
years  to  buy  a  meal.  Nothing  less  than  a  fair,  honest 
share  of  productive  labor  receives  the  approval  of  one's 
companions;  and  no  person  would  want  to  bear  the 
burden  of  public  contempt  in  order  to  avoid  his  fair 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  1 57 

share  of  the  labor,  when  a  day's  labor  is  so  short,  the 
labor  so  easy  and  pleasant,  the  compensation  so  abun- 
dant. 

"Every  'big-house'  has  a  mercantile  departm,ent, 
as  I  have  already  explained,  in  which  nearly  all  kinds 
of  goods,  such  as  an  individual  wants,  are  kept  for  sale. 
The  men,  women  and  children  who  work  in  the  sales 
department  receive  wages,  or  pay,  the  same  as  a  miner, 
a  farmer  or  a  conductor.  They  are  not  interested 
w^iether  they  sell  or  not.  They  derive  no  benefit  from 
misrepresenting  goods.  It  is  the  same  to  them  whether 
they  sell  a  cheap  article  or  a  high  priced  one.  They 
derive  no  benefit  from  lying,  from  suppressing  the 
truth,  or  from  otherwise  deceiving  or  persuading  a 
customer  to  buy  an  article  he  really  does  not  want. 

"If  an  individual  wants  a  knife  or  a  watch  he  buys 
it,  whenever  he  sees  fit,  either  in  the  store  of  his  own 
'big-house"  or  in  some  other  'big-house'  of  his  com- 
munity, or  in  any  other  community  or  country  where 
he  may  be  when  he  wants  the  article.  If  he  wants  an 
article  of  furniture  he  does  the  same.  If  he  wants  a 
suit,  he  can  either  buy  it  ready-made,  or  he  can  select 
the  cloth  and  get  the  tailor  to  make  it.  Nearly  all 
suits  are  tailor  made,  for  an  expert  tailor  in  our  own 
house  can  make  it  as  cheap  as  it  can  be  made  any- 
where. When  a  lady  wants  a  garment,  she  either  gets 
it  ready-made,  or  she  selects  the  goods  and  gets  it 
made  by  a  tailor  or  seamstress,  who  have  all  the  con- 
veniences, who  are  proficient  in  their  work,  and  who  can 
do  the  work  in  much  less  time  than  an  inexperienced 
person  who  wants  the  garment.  Each  laborer  works 
with  advantage  in  his  own  sphere.  This  may,  I  think, 
be  abundantly  verified  by  noticing  the  fit  of  your  ladies' 


158  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

garments,  which  are  often  made  by  the  wearers,  who 
arc  inexperienced  seamstresses,  who,  as  you  term  it,  are 
too  frequently  compelled  by  the  force  of  your  social  cir- 
cumstances to  be  'jack  of  all  trades  and  master  of 
none.'  Your  incomplete  division  of  labor,  your  single- 
handed  efforts,  and  your  inconveniences  resulting  from 
them  necessarily  produce  a  small  return  for  the  labor 
expended ;  and  the  products  which  it  does  produce  under 
such  conditions  are  rude  and  unfinished.  Think,  if 
every  one  had  to  make  his  own  watch,  how  long  it 
would  take  one,  and  what  a  watch  it  would  be  after  one 
had  it  completed. 

"At  the  crossings  of  the  motor-lines  we  have  large 
motor  depots  erected  and  maintained  by  the  four  con- 
tiguous communities  who  use  it  as  a  depot  for  shipping 
and  as  a  storehouse. 

"Pardon  me,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  for  telling  you 
that  I  feel  unable  to  give  you  a  clear  idea  of  our  com- 
mercial and  mercantile  system,  without  giving  you  first 
a  brief  description  of  our  system  of  intercommunica- 
tion." 

"I  am  sure  we  would  enjoy  that  very  much,"  said 
Viola.  "It  will  indeed  be  interesting  for  us  to  know 
how  and  \\  ith  whom  you  travel,  to  whom  you  write,  etc." 

"Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Midith  as  he  began:  "All 
apartments  of  the  'big-house'  are  connected  by  tele- 
phone with  one  another,  with  all  the  'big-houses'  and 
other  buildings  of  the  community,  and  with  all  the 
other  communities  of  the  whole  country.  By  this 
system  an  individual  in  his  private  apartment,  or  any 
other  apartment  or  building,  can  communicate  with 
any  communit}^  or  with  any  individual  of  any  com- 
munity.    This  enables  any  man,  woman,  or  child  to 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  159 

talk  with  any  other  man,  woman,  or  child  of  the  whole 
nation;  or,  one  person  may  communicate  a  message  to 
millions  at  the  same  time  by  all  listening. 

"Telegraphy  is  now  rarely  used.  Owing  to  the 
double  tracks  of  railroads  and  motors,  little  use  is  made 
of  it  there.  Our  improved  noiseless  telephone  is  much 
superior.  Our  phonographs  have  been  wonderfully 
improved.  They  speak,  sing,  play,  etc.,  as  loudly  and 
distinctly  as  the  original  voice  or  instrument.  An 
author  can  read  his  production  in  its  presence,  and  the 
phonograph  will  repeat  it  clearly  and  distinctly  as 
often  as  the  machine  is  set  in  motion.  They  largely 
perform  the  work  of  stenographers. 

"The  mail  is  carried  to  a.nd  from  the  'big-houses', on 
the  railroads  or  motors.  From  there  the  railroads  carry 
it  rapidly  to  its  destination.  When  the  mail  arrives  at 
the  'big-house,'  it  is  immediately  distributed  by  mail 
carriers  to  each  individual's  apartment,  where  the  mail 
carrier  drops  it  through  an  aperture  in  the  wall  into  a 
letter  box  on  the  inside  of  the  individual's  room.  And 
the  inmate  drops  his  out-going  mail  likewise  to  the 
outside  of  his  apartment  for  the  mail  carrier  to  take. 
In  this  manner  a  postofifice  is  located  in  every  in- 
dividual's apartment.  Instead  of  having  every  in- 
dividual run  to  the  postoffice,  often  for  nothing,  as  you 
do,  we  have  a  few  mail  carriers  carry  the  mail  to  every 
individual  who  receives  any.  Mail  arrives  and  departs 
at  least  four  or  five  times  daily.  You  can,  no  doubt, 
see  what  an  immense  amount  of  labor  we  save,  and 
what  a  promptness  and  convenience  we  insure." 

"That  is,  no  doubt,  a  grand  system,  Mr,  Midith," 
said  Rev.  Dudley,  who  seemed  almost  ready  to  start 
in  pursuit  of  a  similar  system,     "It  seems  that  all  your 


l60  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

social  and  industrial  departments  fit  so  well  together 
that  one  can  find  no  break  in  it  anywhere.  Everybody 
has  a  postoffice,  a  telephone  and  a  motor-line  in  his 
own  house,  and  yet  no  one  lives  in  a  crowded  city  nor 
in  a  lonely  country." 

"But,  Rev.  Dudley,  you  know  as  yet  only  little  of 
the  freedom  and  harmony  that  prevails  in  our  social 
and  industrial  world.  You  will  find  as  we  go  along 
with  our  explanation,  that  all  of  man's  career,  from  his 
genesis  until  his  death,  is  a  comparative  history  of  kind- 
ness, freedom,  harmony  and  happiness. 

"On  the  first  of  every  year  an  in\oicc  and  census 
are  taken  by  each  'big-house,'  and  from  these  a  com- 
munity invoice  and  census  is  summarized.  The  sum- 
marized invoice  exhibits  the  total  commodities  on  hand 
of  the  whole  community.  It  also  exhibits  the  increase 
or  decrease  of  any  particular  kind  of  goods,  as  well  as 
the  total  increase  or  decrease  of  wealth  and  capital 
during  the  last  year.  By  the  aid  of  this  invoice  the 
individual,  the  family  and  the  community  can  ascer- 
tain in  what  direction  their  labor  can  be  advantageously 
increased  or  diminished  during  the  current  year.  If 
we  find  by  the  invoice  that  the  wealth  of  the  commun- 
ity is  diminishing,  we  have  to  lengthen  our  day's  labor 
so  as  to  produce  more;  and  if  the  wealth  increases  faster 
than  we  desire,  we  shorten  the  day's  labor.  Now  do 
not  forget  here  that  all  wealth  must  be  produced  by  the 
application  of  labor  to  land,  and  that  anything  which  is 
not  produced  by  labor  is  not  wealth. 

"The  annual  census  which  is  taken  by  each  'big- 
house'  reports  the  population  of  the  family,  male  and 
female;  the  number  of  births  and  deaths;  the  com- 
modities   consumed,    raised,     manufactured,     mined, 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE   INDIVIDUALISM.  Ifil 

transported  and  bought  and  sold.  The  number  of  in- 
ventions; the  books  written  and  printed,  and  all  other 
useful  Items.  The  eensus  of  the  families  are  sum 
marized  like  the  invoices.  The  invoice  and  census  of 
each  community  contains  an  estimate  of  the  current 
years  production,  consumption  and  transportation  be- 
ginning with  the  first  of  the  year. 

"Each  community  prints  annually  about  30,000  or 

a  copy  to  those  communities,  both  in  and  out  of  its 
own  nation,  with  which  it  is  most  likely  to  do  business. 
In  this  manner  each  community  receives  about  30,000 
census  pamphlets  from  that  many  other  commun  ties 
fiom  all  parts  of  the  world.  Each  one  of  our  grand 
divisions  of  and  or  nation,  as  you  call  them,  has  Siso  a 
Fa-no,  which,  ,n  our  language,  means  a  continental 
business  place.  This  Fano  is  a  magnificent  line  o 
buildings,  located  somewhere  near  the  center  of  the  'na- 
tion.     In  this  Fano  sa,„plcs  oi  all  merchantable  com- 

the  sample.     This  capacious  Fano  is  divided  off  into 
grand  departments.     For  example:     In  the  carpet  dl° 
partment  all  communities    that    manufacture   carpets 
have  samples  of  all  their  grades  of  carpets  on  exhib 
ion  there;  and  every  sample  bears  the  name  and  grad 
the     elling  price  and  the  number  of  the  communitJ 
which  has  It  for  sale.     Similarly  are  there  departmems 
to   al   other  commodities-lumber.books,  clocks,  su<.ar 

eiint'ett::::-  "'°'=^'  •'"'-  -''-•  ■■•°"'  ^-^^-^ 

"Thus,  you  see,  we  have  a  continuous  national  ex- 
h*ition  in  the  Fano.  Every  community  of  the  'nation^' 
and^even  of  foreign  'nations,'  has  one  or  more  repre- 


l62  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

sentatives,  called  Fa-no-ers,  there.  These  Fanocrs  are 
at  the  Fano  only  for  the  commercial  interest  of  their 
community.  As  stated  before,  no  commodities  other 
than  the  mere  samples  are  kept  in  the  Fano.  Those 
who  make  purchases  from  a  community's  samples  kept 
at  the  Fano,  have  the  commodities  purchased,  directly 
shipped  to  them  from  the  community  of  whose  samples 
the  gCK)ds  were  purchased.  The  purchasing  individual 
or  family,  or  community,  can  order  them,  or  they  can 
get  the  selling  community's  Fanoer  to  attend  to  the 
ordering.  ' 

"Now  let  me  tell  you  how  we  make  our  purchases 
at  the  Fano.  When  an  individual,  a  family  or  a  com- 
munity desires  to  purchase  an  article,  say,  for  instance, 
a  piano,  and  cannot  procure  the  desired  article  for  a 
suitable  price  near  at  home,  the  purchaser  informs  the 
'  Fanoer '  what  he  wants,  and  directs  the  Fanoer  to 
make  the  purchase,  or  he  informs  the  purchaser  where 
such  an  article  can  be  purchased  to  the  best  advantage. 
The  '  Fanoer'  now  \'isits  the  piano  department,  where 
he  finds  prices,  and  sample  pianos  of  all  description, 
also  a  description  of  each  piano.  From  all  of  these 
he  makes  his  selection,  and  informs  the  purchaser  of 
the  price  and  in  what'  community  they  are  manu- 
factured and  kept.  The  purchaser  then  orders  it  from 
the  'Com  '  of  that  community,  if  the  purchase  was  not 
ordered  to  be  made  directly  by  the  '  Fanoer.'  And 
just  so  with  ev'ery  other  article  of  commerce.  Thus 
you  see  every  individual,  family,  and  community  get 
the  benefit  of  the  best  goods,  the  latest  inventions  and 
improvements,  and  the  lowest  current  prices." 

"  Are  the  masses  of  the  Marsites  well-informed  on 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  163 

the  current  market  prices,  and  the  latest  improvements 
and  inventions?  "   asked  Mr.  Uwins. 

"  Yes,  the  Marsites  are  all  well  informed  commer- 
cially," continued  Mr.  Midith.  "  Our  intercommuni- 
cation is  so  practicable  and  expedient  that  every  one  is 
well  informed  on  current  prices,  and  especially  on  the 
prices  of  those  articles  one  wishes  to  purchase.  Be- 
sides the  means  of  travel,  telephone,  phonograph, 
invoices,  correspondence  and  oral  communication,  we 
have  a  daily  newspaper  or  price  list  issued  at  the 
'  Fano.'  This  price  list  quotes  prices  and  names  and 
briefly  describes  every  new  sample  that  is  brought  in 
and  taken  out  of  the  '  Fano.'  You  must  remember  that, 
under  free  competition  and  a  healthy  supply  and  de- 
mand, prices,  with  us,  do  not  fluctuate  arbitrarily  like 
they  do  under  your  monopolistic  laws,  which  create  an 
unreliable  market  and  fictitious  values.  Hence  we  can 
be  and  are  all  well  informed  on  market  prices. 

"  But  the  above  are  not  the  only  advantageous 
means  of  our  commercial  transactions.  Just  as  we 
have  a  '  Fano '  in  each  grand  division  or  '  nation  '  to 
adjust  and  facilitate  the  national  commerce,  so  do  we 
have  a  world's  business  point  which  we  call  '  Mo-da-no,' 
meaning  in  our  language  world-wide.  The  '  Modano  ' 
is  a  series  of  massive  buildings,  in  which  a  never-ending 
World's  Exposition  is  conducted.  It  is  managed  on 
the  same  principles  as  the  '  Fano,'  and  is  to  the  whole 
of  Mars  what  the  '  Fano  '  is  to  its  grand  division. 

"The  'Modano'  is  the  grandest  structure  on  Mars. 
Its  architecture  is  too  massive,  too  esthetic,  and  too 
grand  to  be  accurately  and  adequately  described  in 
terms  of  any  of  your  languages  with  which  I  am  famil- 
iar.    One  who  has  seen  no  better  architectural  skill  than 


l64  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

the  earth  now  furnishes,  can  form  no  accurate  concep- 
tion of  the  magnitude  and  grandeur  of  our  magnificent 
'Modano.' 

"It  contains  samples  of  all  human  skill  and  indus- 
try, not  only  of  modern  commodities,  but  of  the  an- 
cient and  antiquated  as  well.  Large  departments  for 
the  receptions  of  new  commodities  and  inventions  are 
from  time  to  time  erected.  All  communities  of  Mars 
are  represented  there  by  'Modanoers.'  Samples,  prices, 
and  generally  quantity  and  quality,  of  all  commercial 
goods  are  on  exhibition  at  the  'Modano.'  And  every- 
thing is  kept  as  clean  as  a  parlor.  I  may  say  that  the 
'Modano'  is  the  pride  of  every  Marsian  heart,  and  more 
wealth  is  voluntarily  offered  for  its  erection  and  main- 
tenance than  can  possibly  be  expended.  Nearly  every 
youth  and  adult  annually  visits  a  number  of  'Fanoes' 
and  the  'Modano.'  The  visitor  almost  universally 
records  his  name  in  the  donation-book,  and  drops  into 
a  box  a  sealed  envelope  bearing  his  name  and  con- 
taining the  sum  donated,  which  corresponds  with  the 
sum  opposite  his  name  in  the  donation-book.  This  is 
voluntary  taxation,  of  which  I  shall  tell  you  more  un- 
der the  head  of  Government. 

"Thus  you  see  at  once  that  we  require  no  traveling 
salesmen,  whose  wages  and  expense  are  taxed  to  the 
goods  they  sell,  and  this  sum,  in  the  United  States 
alone,  is  perhaps  nearly  equal  to  the  value  of  your 
entire  wheat  crop  of  the  United  States.  By  our  almost 
complete  system  of  transportation  and  intercommuni- 
cation, it  is  easy  to  buy  and  sell,  and  to  receive  and 
send  news.  We  all  want  to  buy  of  that  community 
which  sells  the  best  goods  for  the  least  pay. 

"The  floating  palace  of  the  ocean,  the  powerful  and 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  165 

safe  trains;  the  motors  which  run  through  every  'big- 
house,'  warehouse,  factory,  mill  and  depot;  the  electric 
farm  engines,  the  various  bicycles  and  carriages,  the 
safe  and  rapid  transit  of  mail,  the  universal  use  of  tele- 
phone and  phonograph,  the  exchange  of  invoices  and 
censuses,  the  Fanos  and  Modano,  the  price  lists  and 
newspapers,  etc.;  all  aid  and  combine  in  making  it  an 
almost  perfect  system  of  transportation,  intercommu- 
nication and  business  transaction.  Such  in  brief  is  our 
commercial  and  mercantile  system, 

"Let  me  here  again  remind  you  that  it  is  not  com- 
petition, like  some  of  your  economists  try  to  make  your 
people  believe,  but  monopoly  which  makes  your  earth 
such  a  cruel,  poor  world  to  live  in.  Profit  is  one  form 
of  monopoly  in  trade  and  commerce.  You  will  notice 
that  in  our  social  and  industrial  world  there  is  a  keen 
competition  everywhere.  One  community,  family  and 
individual  endeavor  to  do  better  and  more  work  in  the 
same  time  than  another.  But  a  competitor  is  always 
a  laborer,  winning  his  race  by  his  superior  merit.  He 
always  earns  his  own  living,  besides  giving  the  benefit 
of  his  superior  merit  to  the  world  at  large. 

"But  notice  the  difference  in  the  profit-taker.  He 
receives  something  for  which  he  does  nothing,  and  the 
person  who  pays  him  the  profit,  pays  for  something 
for  which  he  receives  nothing.  For  this  reason  a 
profit-taker  may  grow  rich  by  living  an  idle  life,  by 
being  a  social  parasite,  like  all  your  profit-takers  are 
as  such.  He  simply  appropriates  what  others  have 
already  earned.  A  competitor  never  lives  from  the 
labor  of  another.  The  community  which  makes  the 
best  and  cheapest  shoes,  sells  the  most,  and  this  is  just 
what  it  should  be,  for  every  one  should  be  allowed  to 


l66  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

buy  as  cheap  as  he  can.  Those  competing  communi- 
ties in  the  shoe  business,  of  which  there  are,  of  course 
many,  must  either  devise  means  of  making  better  and 
cheaper  shoes,  or  they  must  engage  in  other  business 
for  which  they  are  better  adapted.  Under  this  keen 
competition  every  communit}'  will  naturally  drift  into 
those  occupations  for  which  it  is  best  adapted  and  in 
which  it  is  most  proficient.  Just  as  it  is  with  the  com- 
munity, so  it  is  with  the  famil)' and  with  the  individual. 
The  profit-taker  endeavors  to  achieve  his  victory  by 
monopolistically  tearing  down  his  neighbor,  while 
under  freedom  a  competitor  relies  on  the  superiority  of 
his  own  merits  without  interfering  with  the  race  of  his 
neighbor.  Competition  is  the  only  power  of  which  we 
know  that  can  gently  shift  every  person,  family,  com- 
munity, etc.,  into  that  social  and  industrial  sphere  for 
which  each  is  best  adapted.  A  competitor,  under  free- 
dom, is  never  robbed  of  what  he  produces;  he  always 
possesses  at  least  as  much  wealth  as  he  would  if  he 
were  the  only  inhabitant  of  a  world.  Monopoly,  in  its 
various  forms,  is  the  thief  and  robber. 

"Let  us  in  a  few  words  compare  your  commercial 
and  mercantile  system  with  ours,  not  with  a  view  of 
fault-finding,  not  with  a  view  of  casting  reflections,  but 
with  a  view  of  instruction.  We  all  need  all  the  infor- 
mation we  can  get;  if  it  is  not  in  one  thing  it  is  in  an- 
other. Nobody  knows  it  all.  Very  likely  there  is 
much  more  that  we  do  not  know  than  the  little  we  do 
know.  Perhaps  there  is  no  better  evidence  of  mental 
narrowness  than  our  ostentatious  pretention  of  know- 
ing it  all.     With  this  view  in  mind  let  us  proceed. 

"You  either  liv^e  in  the  country,  almost  cut  off  from 
trade  and  commerce,  or  you  live  in  a  crowded  city  or 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  167 

town  where  the  smoke  and  offensive  odor  enters  every- 
crevice,  door  and  window,  and  where  you  are  more  or 
less  starving  for  want  of  wholesome  air.  Where  scarcely 
a  vegetation  opens  its  mouth  to  exhale  the  life-giving 
oxygen  and  to  inhale  the  excessive  carbonic  acid  which 
impairs  the  health  of  animal  life.  Where  a  portion  of 
mankind  are  living  an  idle,  wasteful  life  in  a  palace 
built  by  the  labor  of  the  poor,  and  another  large  class 
of  industrious  persons  are  eking  out  a  miserable  exist- 
ence in  a  poor,  filthy  hovel.  Under  your  profit  system 
each  must  grab  all  he  can  or  he  must  starve.  In  order 
that  a  few  may  amass  comparatively  w^orthless  fortunes, 
many  are  trampled  in  the  mire  who  can  never  rise  again 
under  the  burden  of  your  social  and  industrial  system. 
Perhaps  from  one-half  to  three-fourths  of  your  com- 
mercial and  mercantile  work  is  unproductive  and  de- 
structive labor. 

"Your  railroad  corporations  not  unfrequently  receive 
large  public  donations  of  land,  etc.,  to  build  the  roads 
with,  and  after  they  are  built  they  become  the  gam- 
bling stock  on  which  large  dividends  are  paid  by  the 
hand  of  labor.  You  have  so  many  places  of  business 
where  goods  are  spoiling  for  want  of  customers;  and 
with  your  monopolistic  profit  system,  every  merchant 
is  trying  to  freeze  out  his  neighbor.  We  have  no  'mid- 
dle-men' who  have  to  live  from  profit  which  must  be 
taxed  to  the  goods  when  sold  to  the  consumer  or  pro- 
ducer; no  army  of  mercantile  schemers,  the  successful 
ones  of  whom  live  and  grow  rich  from  the  labor  and 
wrecked  fortunes  of  others;  no  traveling  salesmen;  no 
countless  warehouses  and  elevators,  in  which  the  rich 
speculator  stores  the  grain  and  other  commodities  in 
order  to  create  a  fictitious  market.     Each  one  of  our 


l6S  PKACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDlV.lDOAL'lSM-. 

communities  buys  and  preserves  what  it  needs  for  its 
own  consumption  direct!}-  from  some  other  community; 
and  so  each  community  also  sells  what  it  has  to  spare 
to  some  other  purchasing  community.  Thus  each  pur- 
chase and  sale  is  a  wholesale,  even  if  it  amounts  to  only 
a  nickle's  worth.  With  you  a  business  man  must  live 
from  the  profits  of  his  sales.  He  must  sell  or  become 
impoverished.  ^  Under  such  a  condition,  in  order  to  save 
himself  from  bankruptcy,  he  is  tempted  to  lie,  to  mis- 
represent on  the  one  hand  and  to  suppress  the  truth  on 
the  other;  he  is  tempted  to  persuade  customers  by 
deceptive  means  to  purchase  things  they  do  not  really 
want.  He  must  strain  every  nerve  and  muscle  to  keep 
want  from  his  door.  His  wife  and  children  in  many 
cases,  w^here  the  business  place  is  remote  from  the  res- 
idence, scarcely  ever  see  him.  In  the  morning  he  leaves 
early  and  in  the  evening  he  returns  late.  Many  of 
your  business  men  have  lost  nearly  all  their  social  qual- 
ities and  are  little  more  than  mere  business  worms  with 
the  shadow  of  death  hovering  on  their  countenances. 
Your  business  man  is  a  mental  slave  also.  In  order  to 
be  successful  in  his  business  he  must  either  be  ignorant 
and  superstitious  himself,  living  in  a  little  narrow,  men- 
tal world,  or  he  must  tacitly,  and  sometimes  even 
avowedly,  sanction  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of 
his  customers.  For,  very  likely,  if  he  expresses  his 
honest  convictions  concomitant  with  a  higher  state  of 
culture  in  all  directions,  he  offends  some  of  his  custom- 
ers from  the  profit  of  whose  purchases  he  must  live, 
and  financial  ruin  would  be  the  result." 

"These  are  all  facts,"  said  Mr.  Uwins;  "they  are  no 
exaggerations,  and  many  of  our  foremost  thinkers  have- 
seen  them  more  or  less  clearly  for  some  time;  but  no 


Practical  co-operAtive  inuividualism.        169 

one  thus  far  seems  to  know  how  to  make  the  proper 
adjustment  with  our  present  amount  of  intelligenc-e," 

"I  think  it  is  now  getting  to  be  time  to  direct  our 
course  toward  home,"  said  Mr.  Midith. 

At  this  we  all  rose  to  our  feet,  and  prepared  to  stroll 
homeward. 

"When  we  started  from  home  you  asked  me  for  my 
company,  Viola,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "You  claimed  that 
you  were  better  acquainted  in  the  woods,  and  would, 
therefore,  according  to  the  customs  of  Mars,  volunteer 
to  be  my  guide.  But  now,  in  returning,  I  shall  ask  you 
for  your  company;  of  course,  you  can  accept  or  reject, 
just  as  you  desire.  This  is  also  according  to  the  cus- 
toms of  Mars." 

"Why,  Mr.  Midith,  I  am  sure  I  shall  accept  your 
company  with  the  greatest  of  pleasure,"  said  Viola,  as 
we  started  toward  home. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

MONEY,  OR  MEDIUM  OF  EXCHANGE. 

"Mr.  Midith,  will  you  please  give  us  an  account  of 
your  monetary  system?"  asked  Mr.  Uwins,  as  the  whole 
family  were  enjoying  the  green  lawn,  after  our  first 
stroll. 

"With  the  greatest  of  pleasure,"  said  Mr.  Midith, 
apparently  enjoying  a  high  sense  of  satisfaction.  "But, 
before  I  proceed  with  the  monetary  account,  allow  me 
to  say  that  this  door-yard  picture,  as  we  are  here  now, 
reminds  me  of  a  miniature  Marsian  family.  All  appear 
healthy, happy,  intelligent, clean,  amiable  and  courteous. 
I  can  not  help  feeling  grateful  toward  you  for  your  kind 
hospitality,  and  shall  always  remember  you,  whether  I 
shall  ever  be  able  to  return  to  my  beloved  native  home 
or  not." 

"Mr.  Midith,  you  owe  us  no  debt  of  gratitude;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  we  owe  you,"  said  Mrs.  Uwins.  "  I 
have  never  before  been  so  intensely  interested  in  any- 
thing as  I  am  in  your  Marsian  narrative.  Your  social, 
industrial,  and  domestic  arrangement  seems  to  be  so 
perfect,  and  yet  there  is  nothing  miraculous  in  it. 
It  is  all  human.  With  a  little  more  intelligence  of 
the  masses,  we  can  easily  do  what  the  Marsites  have 
already  done.  With  a  little  additional  knowledge,  we 
ought  to  be  able  .to  live  in  large  families  and  build  our 
houses  in  lines,  and  the  rest  will  naturally  follow." 

170 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I7I 

"Now  the  account  of  your  monetary  system,"  said 
Viola  with  a  pleasant  smile  on  her  countenance.  "  I 
am  anxious  to  know  whether  the  Marsites  are  in  pur- 
suit of  money  as  eagerly  as  we  are,  and  how  ladies  and 
childrcfi  get  their  money." 

"  Before  I  shall  be  able  to  give  you  a  clear  under- 
standing of  our  money,  or  medium  of  exchange,  I 
shall  have  to  give  you  a  description  of  another  public 
apartment  in  the  '  big-house,'  for  this  commercial 
apartment,  as  we  call  it,  is  intimately  connected  with 
our  monetary  system;  in  fact,  it  is  so  closely  connected 
with  it  that  you  can  not  understand  our  money  system 
without  a  knowledge  of  the  function  of  this  apart- 
ment. 

"  The  wall  and  partitions  of  this  commercial  apart- 
ment are  all  furnished  with  fine  book-shelves.  The 
shelves  are  set  off  so  closely  by  vertical  partitions  that 
only  one  large  blank  book  fits  in  each  division,  which 
are  numbered  consecutively.  Every  man,  woman  and 
child  of  the  family  is  represented  in  this  commercial 
apartment  by  one  of  these  time-books,  in  which  each 
records  the  time  of  his  or  her  labor  performed.  On 
the  back  of  each  book  is  the  owner's  name,  and  a 
number  corresponding  to  the  shelf-division.  In  this 
manner  each  individual  has  his  own  book,  and  each 
book  its  own  shelf-division. 

"  Let  me  tell  you  right  here  that  we  have  no  sur- 
names, as  you  call  them.  We  have  only  what  you  call 
Christian  names;  such  as  John,  James,  Mary,  Viola, 
etc.,  the  philosophy  of  which  you  will  see  hereafter. 
But,  in  our  system  of  naming,  every  individual  can  be 
so  described  that  it  can  mean  no  other  person  than  the 
one  intended.     For  instance,  Mary,  B  4,  F  23,  C  84  of 


172  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

Gobcn.  Mary  is  her  name;  B  4  means  that  she  keeps 
her  record  of  labor  in  book  No.  4  in  the  commercial 
apartment;  F6  stands  for  family  number  6  of  a  cer- 
tain community;  C  84  stands  for  community  number 
84  of  the  country  of  Goben.  There  can  be  but  one 
person  in  our  world  that  answers  to  this  description. 

"  This  commercial  apartment  contains  all  the  con- 
veniences for  book-keeping,  fine  desks,  counters,  chairs 
of  all  kinds,  writing  material  and  everything  one  may 
want  to  keep  a  neat,  first-class  record. 

"  As  I  have  said,  each  individual  keeps  his  own 
record  in  his  own  book,  of  all  the  labor  he  performs 
for  the  community;  also  the  kind  (the  labor  census  is 
compiled  from  this  record)  of  labor,  and  the  date  when 
he  performs  it.  The  record-books  are  large  enough  to 
contain  the  labor-record  of  a  person's  whole  lifetime. 
This  labor-record,  kept  in  this  commercial  apartment, 
is  the  basis  upon  which  we  issue  our  money,  or  labor 
checks,  or  medium  of  exchange,  or  whatever  else  you 
may  call  it.  We  have  seen  that  all  wealth  is  produced 
by  productive  labor,  and  a  day's,  or  an  hour's,  or  a 
minute's  productive  labor  produces,  in  an  average,  so 
much  wealth;  and  the  individual  who  performs  the 
labor  should  receive  all  the  money  or  labor  checks, 
which  represent  the  wealth  he  has  produced.  I  might 
say  right  here  that  we  have  no  coin;  this  fact,  stated  in 
the  beginning,  might  aid  you  in  better  understand- 
ing of  what  follows,  fOr  as  a  rule  the  vast  majority  of 
the  people  seem  to  think  that  coin  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  a  successful  medium  of  exchange,  but  this  you 
will  find  to  be  an  error. 

"  There  is  one  other  point  to  which  I  must  call  your 
attention  before  we  proceed  with  our  main  subject,  and 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  1 73 

that  is  our  method  of  keeping-  time.  If  we  issue  our 
money  only  for  productive  labor  performed,  it  natur- 
ally follows  that  we  should  have  a  good  method  of 
measuring  the  time  of  this  labor,  and  this  we  have. 

"  Our  clocks  divide  the  day  on  the  decimal  scale, 
but  I  shall  not  confuse  your  minds  with  our  division  of 
tmie.  I  shall  always  interpret  our  time  in  terms  of 
yours,  and  content  myself  by  just  giving  you  a  brief  de- 
scription of  our  method  of  keeping  it. 

"  Every  apartment,  public  and  private,  is  furnished 
with  one  or  more  time-pieces.  All  the  clocks  in  the 
'  big-house,'  as  well  as  all  the  '  big-houses  '  in  the  whole 
community,  are  connected  by  a  subterranean  elec- 
tric wire,  which  causes  the  pendulums  of  all  the 
clocks  to  vibrate  simultaneously.  The  wires  of  the 
communities  within  certain  degrees  of  longitude  are 
likewise  connected.  By  this  method  all  the  clocks 
within  that  longitude  of  the  country  keep  exact  time 
with  the  central  regulator,  which  is  regulated  astro- 
nomically. 

"Now  we  are  prepared  for  the  main  financial  ques- 
tion. In  business,  when  you  say  I  want  so  many 
dollars,  cents  and  mills  for  an  article,  we  say  I  want 
so  many  days,  hours,  minutes  and  seconds  for  it.  Of 
course,  our  working  day,  as  I  have  told  you  several 
times  before,  is,  in  an  average,  less  than  two  hours,  or 
less  than  one-fifth  as  long  as  your  day,  which  is  gener- 
ally more  than  ten  hours, 

"Now  let  us  see  if  I   can  make  you  understand  our 
money  system,  or  our  medium  of  exchange.     It  is  in- 
deed extremely  simple  for  one  who  is  familiar  with  it. 
"  We  have  seen  that  each  individual  man,  woman 
Snd  child,  keeps  a  time-book  in  the  commercial  apart- 


174  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

mcnt;  and  at  the  close  of  each  month  each  indivickial 
closes  his  own  book  account  of  the  labor  he  performed 
during  that  month  and  makes  a  copy,  a  fac-simile  of  it, 
on  paper  provided  for  that  purpose.  This  copy  is  at 
the  close  of  each  month  sent  to  the  mint  department  of 
the  'Com.'  Here,  in  order  to  avoid  error,  the  labor 
records  are  carefully  examined  by  expert  accountants. 
If  they  are  found  correct  mathematically,  the  amount  of 
money,  or  time  bills,  for  each  individual,  are  issued  and 
put  in  a  kind  of  pocket-book,  sealed  and  addressed  to 
the  individual  owner  who  receives  the  pocket-book  in 
his  mail  box.  Thus  we  notice  that  each  individual 
man,  woman  and  child,  practically  issue  their  own 
money;  that  is  they  can  work  as  much  as  they  like 
during  the  month,  and  at  the  end  of  the  month  they  re- 
port to  the  mintcr  or  money  stamper  at  the  'Com'  the 
amount  of  labor  performed.  For  their  labor  performed 
in  the  community  they  receive  labor  checks,  or  money 
as  you  call  it,  on  the  negotiable  wealth  of  the  commu- 
nity; and  as  all  communities  arc  highly  reliable,  every 
community  will  take  the  labor  checks  of  any  other 
community.  This  enables  a  person  to  buy  in  any  com- 
munity he  desires.  The  laborer,  in  an  average,  always 
produces  the  wealth  before  he  receives  his  money  for 
it.  Hence  failure,  under  ordinary  conditions,  is  impos- 
sible. 

"  Let  us  notice,  then,  that  the  'Com'  issues  the 
money;  that  every  person  who  handles  money  for  the 
family  or  community  remits  it  daily  to  the  'Com,'  where 
all  the  bills  of  the  families  and  community  are  paid.  A 
faiiiily  never  remits  the  money  for  the  bill  of  goods  it 
has  purchased.  When  a  family  buys  a  bill  of  goods 
for  its   store,  etc.,  the  selling  community  makes  out  a 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM, 


175 


duplicate  bill,  one  of  which  the  purchasing  family 
sends  to  the  'Com'  as  soon  as  the  goods  are  found  satis- 
factory and  the  bill  is  correct.  If  the  bill  is  not  correct,  it 
is  first  corrected  by  the  purchasing  family.  The  'Com,' 
immediately  upon  the  arrival  of  the  bill,  remits  the 
money  to  the  selling  community.  You  want  to  keep 
in  mind  then  that  the  family  buys  zvliat  and  where  it 
pleases,  but  that  it  daily  remits  all  the  money  taken  in 
to  the  'Com,'  which  pays  all  the  bills  for  the  commu- 
nity and  for  all  the  families  of  the  community. 

"Our  money,  or  labor  checks,  or  medium  of  ex- 
change, or  whatever  else  you  may  wish  to  call  it,  con- 
sists of  stamped  paper  bills  of  different  sizes,  according 
as  they  represent  days,  hours,  or  fnitmtes  and  seconds. 


C  24 

23486. 

C  24 

CO 
OS 

00 

> 

c 

1—1 

c 

tl\ 

GOBEN. 

6  D 

Six  Days. 

C  24  stands  for  community  No.  24.  6  D  stands  for  six  days' 
labor.  23486  is  the  number  of  the  bill.  Goben  is  the  name  of  the 
country. 

"  Figure  4  represents  a  bill  of  six  days'  value  (called 
six  days),"  said  Mr.  Midith  as  he  outlined  a  Marsian 
labor  bill.     "  Besides  the  ornamental  stamp  which  the 


176  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

bill  contains,  it  bears  the  date  of  its  issue,  the  number 
of  the  community  which  issued  it,  the  country,  or 
grand  division,  in  which  the  community  is  located,  its 
number,  and  its  representative  value  of  six  days'  labor. 
We  have  bills  of  three  sizes:  One  size  representing 
days  labor,  one  representing  hours,  and  one  represent- 
ing minutes  and  seconds. 

"Now  let  us  see  whether  we  can  understand  the 
circulation  of  our  labor-money.  We  have  seen  that 
every  person,  at  the  close  of  each  month,  sends  his  own 
labor-record  to  the  'Com,'  the  only  place  in  the  com- 
munity where  money  is  issued,  and  money  is  never 
issued  on  anything  else  than  these  individuals'  monthly 
labor-records.  So  that  all  the  money  that  is  ever 
issued  goes  directly  to  the  individual  man,  woman,  or 
child,  who  labored  for  it,  who  produced  the  negotiable 
wealth  which  the  money  represents. 

"Now  let  us  follow  a  bill  in  its  circulation.  We 
have  seen  that  the  individual  can  buy  where  he  wishes, 
in  his  own  family  store,  in  his  own  community  or  out 
of  it;  he  can  also  buy  of  another  individual, or  of  a  family, 
or  of  any  community.  We  will  sa}',  for  illustration, 
that  Mary  pays  out  one  of  her  bills  in  any  of  the  family 
stores  of  her  own  community.  The  family  storekeeper, 
at  the  close  of  his  day's  business,  remits  the  bill  to  the 
'Com'  of  his  own  community.  Here  it  was  issued  and 
paid  to  Mary  for  labor  performed;  and  here  it  is  also 
canceled  when  it  returns  by  stamping  it  on  both  sides, 
which  is  a  mark  of  redemption,  after  which  it  is  filed 
away.  This  bill  is  canceled  because  Mary  drew  the 
negotiable  wealth  which  the  bill  represents  out  of  the 
community's  storehouse.  That  is,  she  took  her  actual 
wealth  she  produced  b}-  her  labor.     When  she  received 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I// 

* 

the  money  at  the  end  of  the  month  she  took  only  the 
representative  of  her  wealth.  Bear  in  mind  that  bills  are 
canceled  only  at  the  'Com,'  not  at  the  'big-houses.' 

"Now  let  us  go  on  further.  Perhaps  Mary  paid  out 
her  bill  in  some  other  community  than  her  own.  Then 
the  bill  is  sent  to  the  'Com'  of  that  community  where 
the  purchase  was  made  by  the  family  which  sold  Mary 
the  goods,  but  the  'Com'  of  that  community  does  not 
cancel  i^z/r  bills.  The  'Com'  of  each  community  can- 
cels only  its  ozvn  bills.  The  community  which  gave 
Mary  the  commodities  for  her  bill  uses  that  bill  the 
same  as  it  uses  its  oivn  bills  to  buy  of  other  com- 
munities; and  these  communities  to  buy  of  still  others; 
so  the  bill  keeps  on  circulating  from  one  community  to 
the  other  until  it  again  reaches  oiir  community,  where 
it  will  be  canceled,  for  we  can  not  get  the  bill  unless 
we  redeem  it  with  wealth,  and  all  bills  redeemed,  as  we 
have  seen,  are  canceled  at  the  'Com.'  Hence  we  may 
receive  the  money  of  any  other  community,  and  all 
other  communities  will  accept  our  money. 

"Whenever  the  'Com'  needs  more  money  to  pur- 
chase with,  or  to  pay  bills  of  purchase  with,  than  what 
it  receives  as  remittances  from  its  own  families,  it  sells 
the  products  of  the  community  just  like  your  farmers 
sell  their  wheat,  etc.;  but  the  community,  as  a  com- 
munity, can  never  issue  money  for  the  purpose  of  pay- 
ing for  the  community's  purchases.  Money  can  be 
issued  only  on  the  labor-records  of  the  individual. 
This  fact  we  always  want  to  bear  in  mind." 

"Well,  Mr.  Midith,  how,  then,  do  you  support  dis- 

able-bodicd     persons    who     have    no    labor-record    to 

send  in?"  asked  Viola. 

"They  keep  a  book  in  the  commercial   department 
12 


178  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

tlTe  same  as  the  sound  ones,  and  send  a  monthly  state- 
ment of  how  much  money  they  wish  and  the  money  is 
sent  to  them  the  same  as  to  others;  and  they  spend  it 
just  as  freely,  too.  We  treat  our  cripples  in  every  re- 
spect as  equals,  and  they  do  not  feel  any  sense  of 
inferiority  and  dependence  as  you  make  your  paupers 
feel.  We  let  them  manage  their  own  affairs,  draw 
their  money  and  hire  all  the  assistance  they  need. 
In  order  to  make  this  a  little  plainer  to  you,  I  may  say 
that  our  communities  are  very  large  families,  and  that 
we,  as  members  of  a  community,  find,  no  doubt,  even 
more  pleasure  in  caring  for  our  disabled  persons  than 
a  kind  family  here  on  earth  feels  in  caring  for  a  dis- 
abled son  or  daughter.  But  you  must  not  forget  that 
disabled  persons  are  very  few  with  us.  Disease  and 
accident  have  been  minimized,  and  monstrosities  ( unnat- 
ural productions)  are  almost  unknown." 

"But  you  have  not  yet  told  us  how  little  children 
and  babies  get  their  money  to  buy  with,"  said  Mrs. 
Uwins. 

"I  shall  give  you  an  explanation  of  that  under  the 
head  of  sexual  relations,  where  you  will  be  better  able 
to  understand  it  clearly,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "But  I  will 
say  right  here  that  every  man,  woman,  antl  child  has 
money  to  buy  with,  and  no  one  can  buy  without  it. 

"We  have  no  credit  system,  and  no  interest,  as  }'oa 
can  see  at  once.  For  in  a  world  where  e\-ery  one  has 
all  the  money  he  wants,  or  can  earn  all  he  wants  at 
any  time  by  an  agreeable  amount  of  manual  labor, 
credit  is  unnecessary;  and  interest  is  the  result  of  monop- 
oly, and  as  we  have  no  monopoly,  we  can  have  no 
interest.  In  our  world,  natural  opportunity  is  equally 
open  to  all  individuals,  all   families  and   all  communi- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I79 

ties.  Every  person  can  work  all  he  wants,  and  gets  all 
he  actually  earns.  Our  money  can  be  gotten  only  by 
productive  labor,  or  by  voluntary  gift;  and  you  must 
always  keep  in  mind,  too,  that  it  is  issued  directly  to 
the  man,  woman  and  child  who  earned  it  by  pro- 
ductive labor,  or  w'ho  has  it  voluntarily  given  to  him,  as 
in  the  case  of  an  infant  or  disabled  person. 

"I  have  given  you  a  brief  explanation  of  our  money 
system  before  I  pointed  out  any  defects  in j^/zr system, 
or,  before  comparing  it  with  yours.  I  have  adopted 
this  mode  of  procedure  all  through  my  explanations 
for  the  reason  that  the  masses  of  your  people,  or,  at 
least,  those  who  have  but  a  narrow  mental  view,  always 
accuse  a  person  who  points  out  some  defects  of  their 
institutions  as  being  a  destructionist.  They  say  he 
tears  down,  but  does  not  build  up;  he  is  considered 
rt'rstructive  but  not  <:w/structive.  For  this  reason,  as 
well  as  for  the  fact  of  following  the  natural  method  of 
instruction,  I  have  first  built  up,  constructed  what  I 
believe  to  be  an  immeasurably  more  just  and  simple 
monetary  system  than  yours  is.  In  contemplating  a 
system  of  money,  or  medium  of  exchange,  let  us  al- 
ways keep  in  mind  that  money,  as  such,  is  not  wealth; 
but  that  its  only  function,  its  only  usefulness  is  to 
facilitate  commerce  and  trade.  Now  let  us  compare 
our  money  with  your  money.  Let  us  put  aside  as 
much  as  possible  of  our  prejudice  while  we  are  making 
this  comparison.  First,  then,  let  us  enumerate  the 
several  features  that  a  just  and  convenient  medium  of 
exchange  (money)  must  possess,  and  upon  what  basis 
such  a  system  of  money  must  rest. 

"I.  It  must  be  made  out  of  the  cheapest,  most  con- 
venient and  durable  material. 


l80  I'KACTICAL    CO-OPEKATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"2.  It  must  afford  the  greatest  security  to  the 
taker. 

"3.  It  must  eliminate  all  credit  from  trade  and 
commerce. 

"4.  It  must  maintain  the  most  unvarying  uniform- 
ity in  its  purchasing  power. 

"5.  It  must  least beobtainable  by  any  other  means 
than  by  productive  labor  and  by  voluntary  gift. 

"6.  In  volume,  it  must  be  always  practically  equal 
to  the  value  of  the  negotiable  wealth  which  it  represents, 
and  must  increase  and  diminish  in  the  same  ratio  as  the 
wealth  does, 

"7.  It  must  not  admit  of  being  monopolized  so  as 
to  make  the  drawing  of  interest  possible. 

"8.     It  must  be  least  liable  of  being  counterfeited. 

"9.  It  must  give  the  person  who  possesses  a  large 
quantity  of  it,  no  advantage  or  special  privileges  over 
him  who  has  less  of  it. 

"10.  The  money  must  be  such  that  the  payee  (the 
person  to  whom  money  is  to  be  paid)  nvdy  accept  or 
refuse  the  mo)icy,  instead  of  the  actual  ivealtJi  which  the 
money  represents. 

"II.  It  must,  in  its  circulation,  preserve  a  financial 
equilibrium  with  other  parts  of  the  world,  and  in  proper 
quantities  must  naturally  return  to  its  place  of  re- 
demption. 

"12.  It  must  be  most  directly  issued  to  the  individ- 
ual— man,  woman,  and  child — who  performs  the  pro- 
ductive labor  which  produced  the  wealth  which  the 
money  represents. 

"  I  am  well  aware  from  the  experience  of  my  so- 
journ on  earth  that  the  people  of  earth,  as  a  rule,  are  yet 
very  superstitious,    uninformed   and    fanatical  on  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  l8l 

money  question.  The  masses  of  your  people,  as  I  have 
said  before,  are  worked  so  hard,  and  they  therefore 
have  very  little  time  and  desire  for  philosophical 
thought  of  any  kind;  but  notwithstanding  all  this,  I 
shall  attempt  briefly  to  examine  and  compare  our  and 
your  money  systems  with  the  above  essential  features  of. 
a  just  and  convenient  medium  of  exchange.  Of  course 
we  all  understand,  when  we  think  for  a  moment,  that 
any  system  of  money  that  possesses  the  features  of 
justice  and  convenience  in  the  highest  degree  is  the  most 
perfect.     Let  us  then  begin  the  examination. 

"i.  As  to  material,  our  money  or  medium  of  ex- 
change, as  I  have  told  you  before,  is  made  out  of  paper 
which  costs  comparatively  nothing,  which  is  very  con- 
venient commercially,  and  which  is  sufficiently  dura- 
ble; while  you  make  your  money  largely  out  of  met- 
als, the  production  of  which  costs  you  an  immense 
amount  of  comparatively  unproductive  labor,  and  fur- 
thermore coin  is  very  bunglesome  to  handle.  Two  hun- 
dred dollars  in  silver  is  almost  a  load  to  carry.  Thus 
most  of  your  money  is  costly  and  lacks  convenience. 

"2.  As  to  security,  our  money  is  always  secured 
and  backed  by  the  immense  negotiable  wealth  of  a 
strong,  peaceable  community,  and  in  an  average  we 
never  have  more  money  in  circulation  than  there 
is  actual  negotiable  wealth  on  hand  to  redeem  it 
with,  while  your  national  security  is  often  very  un- 
certain. Thousands  of  people  lost  by  taking  Con- 
federate money  during  the  American  Civil  War;  and 
if  the  South  had  been  victorious,  the  greenback  would 
have  been  worthless.     Your  security  is  thus  very  faulty. 

"3.  You  have  seen  that  v/e  have  entirely  elimina- 
ted all  credit  from  our  financial  world.     No  individual, 


1 82  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATiVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

family,  or  community  buys  on  credit;  all  have  plenty 
of  money  to  buy  with,  while  the  volume  of  your  money 
is  often  so  small  and  so  monopolized  that  perhaps 
most  of  your  business  is  transacted  on  time,  which  in- 
volves a  great  deal  of  uncertainty  and  injustice.  In  the 
first  place,  the  business  man  under  your  credit  system 
is  not  certain  of  his  pay;  he  must  always  be  on  the 
look-out  not  to  sell  to  poor  payers,  and  in  the  second 
place  the  annual  losses  which  the  business  man  sus- 
tains by  failure  to  pay,  must  be  taxed  to  the  goods  he 
annually  sells  and  must  therefore  be  paid  by  those  who 
do  pay.  In  this  manner  a  person  who  pays  must  indi- 
rectly pay  for  the  goods  the  delinquent  fails  to  pay  for 
directly. 

"4.  As  to  uniformity  of  purchasing  power,  our 
money  is  nearly  perfect.  The  basis  of  its  issue  is  a 
day's  productive  labor,  which,  under  free  competition, 
in  an  average,  produces  nearly  the  same  quantity  of 
negotiable  wealth  at  all  times,  taking  it  all  over  the 
world,  while  the  purchasing  power  of  your  dollar  is 
very  fluctuating.  For  instance,  the  discovery  of  a  rich 
gold  mine  makes  the  gold  dollar  worth  less,  because  it 
can  be  obtained  with  less  labor.  If  silver  would  now 
be  discovered  as  plentifully  as  lead,  and  if  you  had 
free  and  unlimited  coinage  of  silver,  a  silver  dollar  of 
the  present  weight  and  fineness  would  have  but  little 
purchasing  power;  first,  because  a  laborer  could  obtain 
many  of  them  from  the  rich  mine  with  a  day's  labor, 
and  secondly,  because  laborers  would  be  attracted  to 
the  }ninc,  and  from  agriculture  and  other  productive 
industries,  which  would  produce  a  scarcity  of  com- 
modities and  raise  them  in  price. 

"Let  us  take  another  example  that  will  clearly  show 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  183 

the  great  varying  purchasing  power  of  your  dollar. 
In, making  this  examination,  we  want  to  keep  in  mind 
that  the  only  material  wealth  after  which  we  are  in 
pursuit  is  food,  clothing,  shelter,  luxuries,  and  the 
instruments  of  their  production  and  distribution;  that 
all  material  wealth  is  produced  either  directly  or  in- 
directly by  the  application  of  labor  to  land;  that  is, 
the  crude  material  must  be  yielded  by  the  earth.  All 
debts  must  ultimately  be  paid  with  material  wealth, 
and  money,  or  the  dollar,  serves  only  as  a  medium  to 
facilitate  the  exchange  of  material  wealth.  Where 
there  is  no  material  wealth  the  dollar  becomes  useless. 
You  do  not  work  for  the  dollar,  as  most  of  your  people 
seem  to  think,  nor  can  a  dollar  add  one  iota  to  your 
physical  comforts  and  happiness.  It  is  the  material 
wealth  which  the  dollar  represents  which  gives  the 
comfort  and  happiness.  If  all  the  money  in  your 
world  would  be  annihilated  or  sunk  in  the  ocean  at 
12  o'clock  M.,  none  of  the  world's  aggregate  physical 
comforts  and  happiness,  other  than  an  experience  of 
inconvenience  of  making  exchanges,  would  be  dimin- 
ished. There  would  be,  after  the  destruction  of  all  the 
money,  just  as  much  food,  clothing,  shelter  and  lux- 
uries as  there  was  with  all  the  money  in  the  world. 
Your  meals  would  be  just  as  good,  because  we  do  not 
eat  money.  Your  houses  would  be  just  as  light,  warm 
and  cheerful  as  before.  Your  couch  would  be  just  as 
soft  and  comfortable.  Your  land  just  as  productive. 
All  your  luxuries  would  be  just  as  charming  and 
agreeable.  Your  trains,  telegraphs,  telephones  and 
electric  lights  would  operate  just  the  same.  Your 
books  would  contain  the  same  information.  The  only 
inconvenience,  as  a  whole,  that  you  would  experience 


184  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

from  the  destruction  of  your  money,  would  be,  that 
you  would  find  it  more  inconvenient  to  make  your 
exchanges  of  commodities;  and  to  obviate  this  incon- 
venience is  the  only  function  and  use  of  money.  Now 
let  us  exemplify  a  little  further  the  injustice  of  the 
varying  purchasing  power  of  your  dollar. 

"Since  I  came  to  live  on  earth,  I  got  acquainted  with 
a  very  industrious  and  frugal  person,  who,  in  i86g,  pur- 
chased, on  credit,  in  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  a  $6,000 
farm.  It  is  now  over  twenty  years  since  he  began  to 
pay  for  it,  and  he  has  succeeded  in  paying  about  $4,000 
of  the  principal  and  over  $6,000  interest.  He,  therefore, 
ow6s  still  $2,000  of  the  principal. 

"Now  let  us  not  forget  right  here  that  wheat  in 
1869,  or  thereabout,  was  worth  about  $2.50  per  bushel, 
and,  as  a  whole,  all  other  things  in  proportion.  This 
man,  then,  bought  the  farm  on  the  basis  of  $2.50  wheat. 
At  this  price,  it  would  have  required  only  2,400  bushels 
of  it  to  pay  for  the  farm.  But  soon  after  he  bought 
the  farm,  wheat  began  to  decline  in  price,  until,  in  1890, 
it  was  worth  only  about  60  cents  or  70  cents.  Now,  as 
I  have  said,  in  1890  this  man  owed  still  $2,000  on  his 
farm.  To  pay  $2,000  with  70  cent  wheat  requires  about 
2,700  bushels,  300  bushels  more  than  it  did  to  pay  for 
the  whole  farm  in  1869.  So  you  see  this  man  raised 
wheat  for  over  twenty  years.  During  this  twenty  years 
he  raised  and  sold  over  6,000  bushels  of  wheat,  the 
proceeds  of  which  he  paid  on  his  farm.  Now  if  the 
contract  for  the  farm  had  read  2,400  bushels  of  wheat, 
instead  of  reading  $6,000,  he  would  have  the  farm  paid 
for  tivo  or  three  times  over.  But  as  it  is,  it  is  more  dif- 
ficult to  pay  for  now  than  it  was  when  he  began  paying 
in    1869.     It    required    more    bushels   of  wheat,   more 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  185 

bushels  of  oats  and  potatoes,  more  pounds  of  cotton 
or  pork,  more  kegs  of  nails,  more  tons  of  galena,  to 
pay  the  balance  of  $2,000  in  1890  than  it  would  have 
taken  to  pay  the  whole  $6,000  in  1869.  But  that  is  not 
all  the  loss  he  sustained.  His  land,  under  your  system 
of  farming,  is  probably  not  as  productive  now  as  it  was 
twenty  years  ago.  His  orchard  and  buildings  have 
decayed  also. 

"Now  before  I  give  another  illustration  on  the  vary- 
ing purchasing  power  of  your  dollar,  I  must  clear  up 
one  other  point  concerning  money.  From  what  I  can 
learn,  it  seems  that  the  majority  of  your  people,  when 
they  consider  the  financial  question,  believe  that  the 
purchasing  of  commodities  is  the  whole  of  a  com- 
mercial transaction;  but  this  is  only  half  of  it  and  the 
last  half,  too.  Let  us  illustrate:  A  farmer,  before  he 
can  pay  his  mortgage,  his  taxes,  or  his  notes,  must  (^;/j' his 
?noncy  to  pay  them  with.  The  mortgagee,  the  tax  col- 
lector and  the  banker  do  not  deal  in  commodities  — 
wheat,  pork,  wool,  cotton,  etc.  The  first  half  of  the 
transaction  is  to  purchase  the  money  with  coDUJiodities, 
and  after  you  have  purchased  the  money,  you  can  pay 
the  mortgage,  taxes,  notes,  etc.,  with  that  money,  which 
is  the  second  half  of  the  transaction.  In  1869,  money 
was  cheap  because  a  bushel  of  wheat  would  buy  about 
$2.50  worth  of  it;  in  1890,  a  bushel  of  wheat  buys  but 
60  cents;  hence  money  was  dear.  The  farmer  must  buy  his 
money  with  the  products  he  raises  on  his  farm;  he  must 
have  coimnodities  before  he  can  buy  money.  The  laborer 
buys  his  money  with  labor,  etc.  A  farmer,  who,  in 
1869,  raised  and  sold  600  bushels  of  wheat,  by  his 
annual  labor,  received  $1,500  for  that  labor;  while,  in 


1 86  PRACTICAL    CO-OPEKATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

1890,  for  raisint^  and  selling  an  equal  quantity  of  wheat, 
he  received  only  about  $400. 

"I  am  well  aware  that  there  are  fluctuations  of 
prices  caused,  in  your  industrial  world,  partly  by  natural 
and  partly  by  monopolistic  supply  and  demand;  but  of 
these  I  am  not  here  speaking.  I  am  here  simply  en- 
deavoring to  illustrate  the  evils  and  injustice  of  the 
varying  purchasing  power  of  your  dollar.  There  is  no 
injustice  in  the  fact  that  a  bushel  of  wheat  will  buy 
52.50,  or  that  it  will  buy  only  60  cents,  or  that  it  will 
buy  5io.  It  would  make  no  difference  to  any  one 
wliether  you  would  get  lO  cents  or  $10  for  a  bushel, 
provided  all  other  things  correspond  in  price,  and  pro- 
vided further  that  the  purchasing  power  of  the  money 
does  not  vary  practically.  The  injustice  consists  in  the 
fact,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  case  of  your  Wisconsin 
farmer,  that  he  purchased  his  farm  on  the  basis  of  $2.50 
wheat  and  other  farm  products,  and  that  he  had  to  pay 
for  it  largely  with  80  or  90  cent  wheat. 

"Now  let  us  be  candid.  Can  you  tell  me  who  got 
that  $10,000,  or  all  that  wheat  which  this  Wisconsin 
farmer  raised  during  these  twenty  years  when  he  tried  to 
pay  for  his  farm?  He  has  nothing  to  show  for  it.  His 
farm  is  not  as  good  now  as  it  was  twenty  years  ago,  and, 
as  we  have  seen,  he  has  to  sell  more  products  now  to  pay 
the  ;^2,000  than  he  would  have  had  to  pay  the  $6,000  in 
1869.  Some  one  ate  all  that  wheat,  and  as  this  man 
received  nothing  for  it,  those  that  ate  it  must  have 
gotten  it  without  actually  paying  for  it.  This  is  a  truth, 
but  not  many  of  the  people  of  earth  have  thus  far  dis- 
covered it. 

"I  am  aware  that  some  of  your  zealous  people  will 
say   that    this   Wisconsin    farmer  was    not  a  wise  and 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  187 

prudent  man  for  buying  that  S6,000  farm  on  time  when 
he  had  nothing  to  pay  for  it.  I  fully  agree  with  them; 
for,  as  I  claim,  no  system  of  money  is  good  which  does 
not  eliminate  all  credit.  It  is  this  unwiseness  which  I 
am  here  endeavoring  to  show,  but  these  zealous  people 
who  condemn  this  Wisconsin  farmer  have  helped  to 
make  still  worse  contracts.     Let  us  see  what  they  are. 

"In  1866  the  national  debt  of  the  U.  S.  was  $2,783,- 
000,000;  and  in  1890  it  was  about  $1,183,000,000.  About 
the  year  1866  wheat  was  worth  about  $2.50  a  bushel, 
and  if  the  national  debt  had  been  contracted  to  be  paid 
in  ivlicat  (instead  of  dollars,  remember),  it  would  have 
required,  in  1866,  about  1,008,000,000  bushels  (one 
billion,  eight  rtiillions).  In  1890  wheat  was  worth 
about  60  or  70  cents,  and  the  national  debt  was  $1,183,- 
334,688.  At  that  price  it  would  have  required  about 
1,900,000,000  bushels.  Thus  you  see  that  you  owed 
about  90,000,000  bushels  more  in  1890  than  you  owed 
in  1866. 

"In  making  this  comparison,  I  use  wheat  because  I 
believe  it  to  be  one  of  your  foremost  staples,  but  you 
can  use  beef,  pork,  oats,  corn,  wool,  kegs  of  nails  or 
any  other  important  staple.  You  will  notice,  then,  that 
it  is  not  a  scarcity  of  any  particular  commodity  in  1866 
and  an  'over-production'  in  1890,  but  that  it  lies  in  the 
varying  purchasing  power  of  the  dollar.  In  1866  a 
farmer  could  purchase  $2.50  with  one  bushel  of  wheat 
(remember  that  the  buying  of  mo/icy  is  the  first  half  of 
a  commercial  transaction);  money  was  cheap  then.  In 
1890  he  could  purchase  only  60  cents  for  a  bushel.  The 
capitalists  who  hold  the  money  made  money  scarce,  so 
that  they  could  receive  a  large  quantity  of  coiiuiioditics 
for  a  dollar  of  it.     Thus  you  see  that  your  capitalists 


188  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

arc  not  only  robbini^  the  masses  by  charging  interest, 
but  also  by  increasing  the  purchasing  power  of  the  dol- 
lar. You  see,  he  holds  the  dollar;  the  poor  man  has  no 
dollars. 

"One  more  brief  comparison  on  this  point:  Sup- 
pose that  in  1866  a  farmer  stores  away  $1,000  worth 
of  wheat  at  $2.50  a  bushel,  which  would  amount  to  400 
bushels.  His  brother  banker  also  puts  in  his  safe  the 
same  amount  of  property,  a  thousand  dollars,  in  dollars, 
not  in  wheat  or  any  other  ri^w/wfc///)'.  Now,  they  have 
stored  away  an  equal  amount  of  property.  Let  us  see 
now  how  they  stand  in  1890.  The  farmer  has  his  400 
bushels  of  wheat,  which  is  worth  about  60  cents  a  bushel. 
If  he  turns  his  wheat  into  cash,  he  has  $240,  while  his 
brother  banker  has  51,000  in  cash.  Here  you  see  that 
the  farmer,  or  any  other  laborer,  'comes  out  of  the 
small  end  of  the  horn.'  Now  let  us  see  how  they  stand 
when  both  turn  their  property  into  wheat.  The  farmer 
has  400  bushels.  The  banker  has  $1,000,  for  which,  at 
60  cents  a  bushel, he  can  buy  1,666  bushels;  1,666  bushels 
minus  400  bushels  leaves  1,266  bushels,  that  the  banker 
is  ahead  of  the  farmer,  after  they  have  converted  their 
property  into  wheat. 

"I  am  well  aware  that  in  a  few  cases  the  varying  pur- 
chasing power  of  the  dollar  gives  an  advantage  to  the 
laborer  inste?id  of  the  capitalist.  But  this  advantage 
to  the  laborer  is  as  unjust  as  if  the  advantage  were  to 
the  capitalist;  and  the  injustice  of  this  advantage, 
whether  to  the  capitalist  or  to  the  laborer,  is  what  we 
are  here  considering. 

"These  are  all  tntths,  but  they  lie  so  deeply  hidden 
that  the  masses  of  your  people  do  not  yet  see  them. 
Our  medium  of  exchange  does   not   possess  this  grave 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  189 

injustice;  the  unit  of  value  is  based  on  a  day's  produc- 
tive labor,  which  varies  very  little,  if  any,  and  all  share 
an  equal  part  in  this  slight  variation. 

"5.  As  already  stated,  the  Marsites  issue  money 
only  directly  to  the  itidividiial  on  his  monthly  labor- 
record,  that  is,  if  the  individual  is  able-bodied  and  old 
enough  to  work;  if  he  is  disabled  or  a  child,  he  receives 
money  in  a  similar  manner  on  di  gift-record,  instead  of  a 
labor-record.  No  person  can  get  a  penny  by  profit, 
interest,  etc.,  because  the  goods  are  sold  by  the  commii- 
-ni(y a.t  cost,  and  nobody  pays  interest,  because  everybody 
has,  or  can  earn  all  the  money  he  wants.  You  see 
there  is  no  room  for  a  speculator  and  schemer  in  our 
world,  even  if  a  person  were  disposed  to  be  one;  while 
your  system  is  just  the  reverse.  With  you  a  gold 
miner  in  a  rich  mine  may  take  out  $200  worth  of  gold 
with  one  day's  labor;  and  he  has  produced  compar- 
atively nothing,  if  the  gold  is  coined  into  money; 
for  paper  is  even  more  suitable  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change, if  issued  on  the  right  basis,  than  gold.  A  mer- 
chant under  your  system  may  grow  rich  on  profit  by 
doing  nothing.  A  money  lender  may  receive  a  thou- 
sand dollars  a  day  as  interest  by  living  an  idle  life.  He 
may  be  growing  richer  by  the  interest  he  receives,  so 
that  his  posterity,  for  generations  yet  unborn,  can  live 
an  idle  life  by  living  from  the  labor  of  others.  You 
have  also  seen  that  a  capitalist  may  grow  rich  by 
changing  the  purchasing  power  of  the  dollar  in  his 
favor.  Your  money  system,  then,  is  very  defective,  be- 
cause it  is  largely  obtained  without  productive  labor. 
The  persons  who  perform  nearly  all  the  productive 
labor  have,  as  a  rule,  very  little  of  it,    while   many  of 


IQO  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

your  schemers,  or  unproductive  laborers  or  idlers,  have, 
as  a  rule,  an  abundance  of  it. 

"6.  We  have  seen  that  we  issue  money  once  a 
month  for  labor  performed,  and  that  this  money  is 
issued  only  at  the 'Com;'  that  the  money  is  issued 
directly  to  the  individual,  who  can  make  his  purchases 
wherever  he  likes,  and  that  all  money  taken  in  by  the 
families  for  commodities  sold  is  daily  remitted  to  the 
'  Com,'  where  the  communities'  own  money  is  canceled 
when  taken  in;  and  that  the  money  from  other  commu- 
nities, for  which  we  have  c^iven  wealth,  is  used  by  the 
'Com'  to  pay  bills  with.  Each  community,  then,  has 
always  a  quantity  of  money  in  circulation  equal  to  the 
salable  wealth  on  hand.  It  the  wealth  increases  the 
volume  of  money  increases,  for  money  is  issued  on  pro- 
ductive labor,  which  produces  wealth.  If  the  wealth 
diminishes  the  volume  of  money  diminishes,  for  as  soon 
as  the  wealth  is  given  to  the  producer  for  the  money, 
the  money  is  canceled. 

"The  basis  upon  which  you  issue  and  redeem  money 
is  entirely  different.  You  may  have  a  scarcity  of 
money  and  an  abundance  of  commodities,  or  you  may 
have  an  abundance  of  money  and  a  scarcity  of  com- 
modities. A  rich  gold  mine  tends  to  increase,  the 
volume  of  money,  and  tends  to  decrease  the  quantity 
of  commodities.  The  more  }'ou  monopolize  money, 
the  more  it  conduces  to  the  interest  of  the  wealthy — 
the  higher  the  interest  will  be  and  the  more  the  stored- 
up  dollar  of  the  capitalist  increases  in  [nnxhasing 
power.  The  volume  of  the  IMarsian  mone\%  which  is 
based  on  a  day's  productive  labor,  is  ahva}'s  practically 
equal  to  the  quantity  of  negotiable  wealth.  Money, 
based   on  a  day's  producti\'c   labor,  where  opportunity 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  IQI 

for  labor  is  always  open  to  all,  can  never  be  scarce. 
This  is  the  case  on  Mars,  and,  therefore,  we  never  have 
a  scarcity  of  money.  With  you  things  are  vastly  dif- 
ferent. All  your  institutions  are  partly  warpe3  by 
your  unjust  medium  of  exchange. 

"7.  Our  money  can  not  be  monopolized  so  that  it 
draws  interest. 

"Before  we  can  intelligently  discuss  this  feature,  I 
shall  be  obliged  to  make  a  few  statements  concerning 
our  social  and  other  economic  conditions.  An  earthite 
uses  money  for  many  purposes  where  a  Marsite  uses 
no  money  at  all.  For  example,  a  Marsite  does  not 
buy  and  sell  land.  The  individual  on  Mars  needs  no 
money  for  the  construction  of  his  dwelling.  Our 
dwellings  are  erected  by  the  collective  labor  of  the 
members  of  the  community.  A  Marsite  needs  no 
money  for  his  tools,  his  machinery,  his  implements, 
his  garden,  orchard,  park,  boulevards,  motor-lines,  rail- 
road, light  and  fuel;  all  this  is  furnished  collectively 
by  the  members  of  the  community,  because  we  found 
that  by  co-operation  it  can  be  done  with  much  less 
labor  than  it  can  be  done  by  single-handed  effort. 
Above  the  public  wear  and  tear  and  improvements,  all 
the  labor  that  a  community  needs  expend  is  for  the 
purpose  of  keeping  its  "store-houses  well  filled.  Thus 
you  see  that  a  Marsite,  on  account  of  his  co-operate 
production,  never  needs  a  large  sum  of  money  at  once. 
Our  individual  buys  his  meals,  his  clothes,  his  private 
luxuries,  the  furniture  for  his  private  apartment,  his 
railroad  ticket,  etc.,  etc.;  but  all  this  requires  no  large 
investment  at  any  one  time.  And  as  he  can  go  to 
work  at  any  day  and  earn  a  sum  equal  to  the  purchas- 
ing power  of  ten  of  your  dollars,  he  is  not  very  likely 


192  PRACTICAL    CO  OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

to  borrow  money  and  pay  interest.  No  individual  can 
expend  Sio  a  day  for  X.\\qsq private  purposes  only,  unless 
he  becomes  wasteful. 

"'Your  social,  and  therefore  your  financial,  condi- 
tions are  vastly  different.  Your  individual  buys  land. 
He  builds  a  large  factory,  he  erects  his  own  dwelling, 
he  constructs  a  railroad,  runs  a  store,  builds  a  ship, 
keeps  a  dairy,  etc.  Under  these  conditions  your  indi- 
vidual needs  a  large  sum  of  money  at  a  time.  Your 
natural  opportunities  are  not  open  to  all.  Thousands 
of  your  industrious  men  and  women  are  forced  idlers, 
and  millions  of  them  have  no  fair  opportunity  to  labor. 
In  the  United  States  alone  there  are  probably  two 
millions  more  laborers  than  there  are  places  for  labor 
Thus  an  opportunity  is  offered  to  monopolize  money, 
to  compel  him  who  needs  it  pay  interest,  and  every 
cent  of  interest  that  the  payee  receives  gives  him  ad- 
ditional opportunity  to  collect  more  and  higher  interest, 
while  it  makes  the  payer  more  and  more  dependent; 
for  interest  is  money  for  which  the  idik^y  gives  nothing 
and  the  payer  receives  nothing.  All  these  evils  are  so 
conspicuous  and  so  destructive  of  human  welfare,  and 
yet  only  a  few  of  the  earthites  see  them  clearly;  and  it 
will,  no  doubt,  be  a  long  time  before  the  masses  of  the 
people  here  on  earth  will  become  thoroughly  informed 
on  them. 

"  8.  As  to  counterfeiting,  I  may  say  that  in  a  com- 
munity or  worfd  in  which  a  sufificient  quantity  of 
money  can  easily  be  obtained  by  an  agreeable,  health- 
ful amount  of  productive  labor,  money  is  not  liable  to 
be  counterfeited.  There  are  causes  for  counterfeiting, 
and  whenever  these  causes  are  removed  counterfeiting 
ceases.  By  making  the  conditions  of  earning  money 
easy  and  pleasant  to  all,  we  have  removed  the  causes. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  ig3 

"In  a  social  and  financial  world,  like  yours,  where  so 
many  industrious  persons  are  prevented  to  labor,  where 
so  many  are  pinched  by  poverty,  where  the  dollar  is 
the  highest  aim  of  nearly  all,  where  productive  labor 
is  looked  upon  with  contempt  by  your  '  best  society,' 
where  money  offers  special  privileges  to  the  possessor 
of  it,  where  want  and  the  fear  of  want  are  wrecking 
countless  constitutions,  and  where  the  poor  have  to 
work  the  treadmill  of  toil  from  early  youth  until  feeble 
old  age,  money  is  liable  to  be  counterfeited  by  some, 
who  endeavor  by  this  means  to  escape  these  disagree- 
able burdens.  It  is  no  use  to  deny  it;  we  all  become 
dishonest,  as  you  call  it,  if  we  are  only  pinched  severely 
enough  by  poverty  and  want.  This  is  the  reason  why 
you  have  so  much  counterfeit  money. 

"g.  The  next  feature  of  a  just  and  convenient  medium 
of  exchange  is,  that  it  must  give  the  person  who  pos- 
sesses a  large  quantity  of  it,  no  advantage,  or  special 
privileges  over  him  who  has  a  less  quantity  of  it. 

"I  have  already  told  you  that  a  Marsite,  as  an  indi- 
vidual, does  not  use  money  for  many  purposes  that  an 
earthite,  as  an  individual,  uses  it.  We,  as  individuals, 
use  it  only  to  purchase  our  private  personal  needs. 
The  family  and  community  use  it  for  purchasing  articles 
for  public  use,  both  family  and  community.  Thus  an 
individual,  as  we  have  seen,  never  needs  a  great  amount 
of  it  at  any  one  time.  All  of  us  have  an  equal  share 
in  the  public  property,  and  are  all  served  with  like 
courtesy  under  similar  conditions.  All  can  work  as 
much  as  they  like,  and  all  receive  equal  pay  for  a  day's 
productive  labor;  and  this  labor  yields  more  wealth 
than  any  one   can  spend   without  willful  waste,  if  one 

13 


194  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

works  from  one-half  to  three-fourths  of  the  days  in  the 
year.  We  have  no  best  places  in  our  world,  because 
they  are  all  as  good  as  the  best,  and  that  is  as  good  as 
human  skill  can  make  them.  We  have  no  favorite  place 
in  our  community  which  can  be  bought  with  money. 
The  places  in  our  dining-room  and  parlors  are  all  the 
very  best,  and  no  one  place  presents  a  particular  pref- 
erence over  any  other.  In  our  spacious  hall  during 
an  operatic  play,  lecture,  or  other  entertainment,  we 
take  the  most  suitable  place  vacant.  All  public  apart- 
ments are  equally  open  to  all  without  pay.  In  the 
location  of  private  apartments,  there  is  also  no  particu- 
lar advantage  and  choice  other  than  results  from  mere 
personal  fancy.  Those  private  apartments  located  on 
the  lower  floors,  for  instance,  are  perhaps  more  con- 
veniently located  to  the  dining-hall,  but  more  incon- 
venient for  the  exercise-hall,  etc.  Thus  all  the  private 
apartments  are  so  located  and  arranged  that  the  aggre- 
gate convenience  they  bear  to  all  the  public  apart- 
ments are  nearly  equal,  so  that  there  is  no  particular 
choice;  and  if  there  was,  money  could  not  buy  it." 

"Well,  Mr.  Midith,  I  cannot  see  that  a  rich  man  in 
a  republic  like  that  of  the  United  States  has  much,  if 
any,  advantage  over  a  poor  man;  at  least  /cannot  see 
any  such  advantage  or  special  privileges,  and  if  you 
know  of  any  I  would  like  to  have  you  explain  them  to 
us,"  said  Rev.  Dudley  as  Mr.  Midith  finished  speaking. 

"Well,  Rev.  Dudley,  if  you  like  to  have  me  point 
out  some  of  the  advantages  and  special  privileges  the 
rich  man  has  over  the  poor  man  on  earth,  I  shall 
oblige  you  by  giving  a  brief  explanation  of  2.  fcio  of 
them.  I  say  2ifew  because  there  are  a  countless  num- 
ber of  them.  • 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM,  I95 

"With  you  money  makes  money,  as  you  call  it.  The 
rich  man  receives  interest  for  which  he  gives  nothing, 
and  the  poor  man  pays  interest  for  which  he  receives 
nothing.  With  us,  nothing  but  productive  labor  pro- 
duces wealth,  and  on  that  wealth  money  is  issued. 

"Here  on  earth  a  person  who  has  the  most  money 
can  buy  the  best  seat  in  the  theater,  the  finest  pew  in 
church.  He  can  often  buy  to  a  certain  extent  his  elec- 
tion to  go  to  Congress  or  to  the  Legislature,  put  a 
'corner'  on  wheat  so  as  to  create  fictitious  prices.  The 
rich  man  is  honored;  his  word  is  law,  and  if  not,  he  not 
infrequently  buys  enough  votes  to  make  it  a  law.  His 
employes,  in  order  to  keep  their  position,  are  often 
compelled  to  vote  according  to  his  dictates  and  his  in- 
terests. By  monopolistically  clogging  natural  oppor- 
tunity he  is  enabled  to  collect  profit,  interest,  rent  and 
taxes.  He  manipulates,  as  we  have  seen,  the  varying 
purchasing  power  of  the  dollar  in  his  favor.  He  wears 
the  best  clothes;  eats  the  tenderest  meat;  lives  in  a  fine 
residence;  goes  to  entertainments;  makes  pleasure  ex- 
cursions, and  does  countless  other  agreeable  things. 
While,  on  the  other  hand,  the  poor  man  is  com- 
pelled to  toil  early  and  late,  live  in  a  small,  ill-venti- 
lated, poorly-heated,  screenless  house  or  hovel,  wear 
coarse  clothes,  eat  the  tough  meat  and  small  potatoes; 
by  his  toilsome  labor  his  step  has  become  slow  and 
clumsy,  his  form  is  bent,  his  head  droops,  his  shoul- 
ders stooped;  his  brow  is  careworn;  he  has  little  or  no 
time  for  amusements,  education,  ethical  culture  and 
personal  cleanliness.  All  his  vitality  is  expended  in 
acquiring  the  mere  material  subsistence.  He  sits 
down  on  an  uncomfortable  chair.  He  has  little  furni- 
ture, a  bare  floor,  small,  curtainless   windows,  a   poor 


196  PRACTICAL    CO-OPEKATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

bed,  a  sooty  stove,  and  not  infrequently  an  unclean 
dooryard. 

"  From  the  foregoing  explanation  you  can  clearly 
see  that  the  rich  man  has  the  advantage  evcryivliere. 
He,  by  some  roundabout  means,  which  the  poor  and 
often  less-enlightened  person  does  not  understand, 
charms  away  the  products  of  the  poor  man's  labor; 
and  the  more  the  rich  monopolize  the  land,  the  medium 
of  exchange  and  other  necessary  means  of  production, 
the  better  his  charm  works.'" 

"  You  say  that  the  rich  man  has  the  advantage  over 
the  poor  man  ci' cry  where,  but  on  this  point  I  feel  quite 
certain  that  you  are  mistaken,"  said  Rev.  Dudley. 
"  With  our  present  system  of  paying  taxes,  the  rich 
man  pays  nearly  all  the  taxes.  On  this  point  then,  if 
on  no  other,  the  poor  man  has  the  advantage  over  the 
rich.  This,  I  think,  you  cannot  deny  or  successfully 
refute,  Mr.  Midith." 

"  It  may  seem  to  you.  Rev.  Dudley,  that  I  cannot 
successfully  refute  or  consistently  deny  this  proposi- 
tion ;  but  it  is  the  very  point  I  do  emphatically  deny." 
said  Mr.  Midith,  in  a  soft  tone  of  voice.  "  I  hold  that 
the  rich  pay  scarcely  any  taxes.  This  tax  question 
seems  to  be  regarded  by  the  mass  of  the  people  on 
earth  in  nearly  the  same  light  as  the  war  question. 
The  'praise  and  honor'  of  victory  is  generally  be- 
stowed on  the  general,  who  is  generally  at  a  safe  dis- 
tance, while  the  private  soldier,  who  does  the  actual 
fighting,  is  scarcely  ever  thought  of.  Just  so  it  is  with 
the  tax  question.  The  one  who  really  pays  the  taxes 
rarely  ever  receives  credit  for  it.  Let  us  exemplify  this: 

"I  suppose  that  you  will  agree  with  me  that  a  rob- 
ber, who  forcibly  took  $io,ooo  yesterday,  and  is  assessed 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  I97 

on  that  $10,000  to-day,  cannot  be  said  to  pay  taxes; 
for  by  the  act  of  robbing  he  has  not  produced  any- 
thing, and  it  is  plain  that  one  who  does  not  produce 
anything  cannot  really  pay  anything.  We  have  seen 
that  all  material  wealth  is  in  the  form  of  food,  cloth- 
ing, shelter,  luxuries,  and  the  instruments  necessary  for 
its  production  and  distribution,  and  that  this  wealth 
must  be  produced  either  directly  or  indirectly  by  pro- 
ductive labor  applied  to  land.  Now  your  rich  men,  the 
same  as  the  robber,  are,  as  a  rule,  not  engaged  in 
actual  productive  labor,  and  can,  therefore,  not  really 
pay  taxes.  As  a  rule,  they  have  acquired  their  millions 
by  appropriating,  in  a  roundabout  way,  the  wealth  of 
the  actual  producer,  and  on  this  wealth,  so  appropriated 
from  the  products  of  the  laborer,  he,  instead  of  the 
actual  producer,  pays  a  certain  amount  oi  t\\\s  appropri- 
ated (not  earned)  wealth  into  the  treasury  as  taxes. 

"Let  us  make  this  principle  plainer  by  additional 
examples.  No  doubt,  you  can  plainly  see  that  a 
burglar,  who  has  just  taken  $100,000  from  the  vaults  of 
the  United  States  treasury,  cannot  be  said  to  pay  taxes, 
even  if  he  gives  part  of  this  money  back  to  the  United 
States  in  the  form  of  taxes. 

"When  a  saloon-keeper  pays  a  $i,ooo  license 
for  the  privilege  of  selling  liquor,  he  pays  this  license 
with  the  money  he  receives  into  his  money  drawer,  for, 
as  a  saloon-keeper,  he  can  pay  it  with  no  other  money, 
because  that  is  the  only  means  by  which  he  receives 
money,  and  the  drinker  who  pays  him  the  nickles,  if  the 
drinker  earned  them,  pays  the  license;  all  that  the 
saloon-keeper  does  in  this  matter  is,  that  he  takes  the 
money  out  of  his  money-drawer  and  gives  it  to  the 
license  collector.  .     . 


IgS  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"If  each  person  actually  produced  all,  or  an  equiv- 
alent of  what  he  consumed,  then  the  consumer  would 
ultimately  pay  all  cost  of  goods,  zV/r///*^/;/^  taxes;  but 
this  is  not  the  case.  The  Marsites  have  tivo  classes  of 
persons  who  consume  and  do  not  produce,  namely,  in- 
fa7its2i.\\di  disabled  persons  ;  yon  have  y^/^r  classes,  namely, 
infajits,  disabled  persons,  idlers,  and  7inproduetive  and 
destmctive  laborers.  We  can  easily  see  that  all  those 
who  do  not  actually  earn  or  produce  wealth  cannot  pay 
anything  w^ithout  they  receive  it  in  some  way  from  the 
actual  producer.  Hence  we  see  that  the  productive 
laborer — the  actual  producer — has  produced  all  the 
wealth  and  must,  therefore,  ultimately  pay  all  cost, 
taxes  included. 

"I  have  already  told  you  how  many  persons  here  on 
earth  get  wealth  without  producing  it;  but  I  shall  here 
give  you  a  few  additional  examples. 

"An  earthite  may,  by  gambling  at  the  Board  of 
Trade,  become  a  millionaire  without  producing  a  single 
mouthful  of  food,  and  if  he  is  a  millionaire,  he  may  also 
become  a  pauper.  A  sudden  rise  or  fall  of  25  cents  in 
the  price  of  a  bushel  of  wheat  will  make  some  rich  and 
others  poor;  but  there  is  no  production  of  wheat  in  these 
transactions,  and  the  transactions  are  more  than  use- 
less, as  you  can  easily  see  by  examining  our  commercial 
system.  All  there  is  in  such  useless  transactions  is  that 
one  set  of  schemers  succeed  in  fleecing  another  set  of 
schemers  without  producing  any  wealth. 

"Some  of  your  people  grow  rich  in  dollars  without 
labor  by  buying  a  lot,  keep  it  for  a  few  years,  and  then 
sell  it  for  a  thousand  or  ten  thousand  times  as  much  as 
they  paid  for  it.  You  may  grow  rich  by  a  patent  and  a 
copyright;  but  no  matter  how  you   grow   rich  without 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  IQQ 

labor  it  is  always  by  profit,  interest,  rent,  taxes,  gift,  or 
the  varying  purchasing  power  of  your  dollar. 

"  Now  let  me  give  you  a  few  more  examples  show- 
ing that  the  rich  man,  as  a  rule,  pays  little  or  no  taxes. 

"A  duty  on  goods  is  paid  by  the  consumer  as  far  as 
he  actually  earns  what  he  consumes  or  an  equivalent 
thereof;  but,  if  the  consumer,  like  an  infant  or  social 
parasite,  does  not  earn  what  he  consumes,  or  an  equiv- 
alent, the  producer,  the  laborer,  pays  that  proportionof 
it  which  the  consumer  does  not  actually  earn  or  pro- 
duce. 

"Now  let  us  take  a  merchant  and  see  who  pays  his 
taxes. 

"  Every  person  who  buys  at  his  store  pays  part  of 
it.  The  price  on  his  goods  must  be  such  that  after  pay- 
ing all  expenses — fuel,  oil,  damage  of  goods,  insurance, 
interest,  taxes,  etc. — he  must  have  some  left  for  his 
labor,  or  else  he  cannot  continue  business  and  live. 
Now,  we  can  all  see,  even  the  dullest,  that  if  there  were 
no  taxes  to  be  paid  this  merchant  could  reduce  the 
price  of  his  goods  and  still  have  as  much  left  for  his 
labor  as  when  he  paid  taxes;  and  if  he,  under  these 
conditions,  would  not  reduce  the  price,  others,  by  means 
of  competition,  would.  Thus,  you  see  that  every 
person,  even  the  poorest,  who  purchases  at  his  store 
pays  part  of  the  taxes  on  the  merchant's  goods  and  on 
his  lot  and  store  building — that  is,  if  the  purchasers 
produce  what  they  consume;  if  not,  the  actual  producer 
pays  it,  for  an  infant,  a  disabled  person,  a  pauper  and  a 
social  parasite  have  only  that  which  they  have  received 
from  the  actual  producer.  The  hand  of  productive 
labor  pays  for  all,  and  that  hand,  as  a  rule,  belongs  to 
the  poor  man. 


200  I'KACTICAL    CO-01'ERAT]  VE    IMMVIDUALISMv 

"  Thus  you  sec,  upon  examination,  that  your  present 
belief  that  the  rich  man  pays  most  of  the  taxes  is  as 
much  an  illusion  as  the  belief  in  the  '  divine  right  of 
kings,*  the  right  to  hold  slaves,  the  remission  of  sins  by 
fasting,  etc.,  formerly  was,  and  still  is  to  a  large  degree. 
The  fact  is,  that  no  one  but  a  producer  can  pay,  and,  as 
a  rule,  your  producers  are  not  rich.  Therefore,  nearly 
all  the  taxes,  as  well  as  all  other  costs,  are  ultimately 
paid  by  the  comparatively  poor  persons.  So  on  this 
point,  too,  the  poor  man  is  'left,'  as  you  term  it." 

"I  know,"  said  Rev.  Dudley,  "there  is  a  great  deal 
said  and  preached  about  poverty,  toil  and  poor  people 
nowadays.  I  am  also  fully  conscious  of  the  fact  that 
there  are  many  industrious  persons  pinched  by  pov- 
erty, but,  after  all,  I  think  there  is  a  great  deal  of  imag- 
inary grievance.  I  personally  know  of  a  large  number 
of  foreigners  who  had  scarcely  a  dollar  when  they  came 
to  this  country,  but  who  arc  now  millionaires  several 
times  over;  and  I  think  that  most  any  steady,  frugal, 
industrious  person  can  become  quite  wealthy  in  the 
United  States,  if  he  wants  to  be,  and  manages  it  prop- 
erly." 

"I  suppose  you  are  honest  in  your  convictions,  Rev. 
Dudley,"  said  Mr.  Midith,  when  Rev.  Dudley  ceased 
speaking.  "It  is  true  that  most  any  o/ic  can  get  rich, 
but  not  all  can  get  rich  under  your  present  social  con- 
ditions. If  I  throw  three  apples  into  the  grass  iox  five 
boys  to  get,  jnost  any  Ofie  of  the  five  boys  may  get  an 
apple  and  some  one  may  even  get  two,  but  all  of  them 
cannot  get  an  apple.  So  it  is  with  your  people;  as 
long  as  you  have  two  million  more  laborers  than 
places  for  labor,  most  any  one  may  become  rich,  but  all 
cannot  be   rich.       Now,   Mr.   Dudley,  will  you  kindly 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  201 

give  me  the  history  of  a  particular  individual  case  of 
which  you  know,  where  a  man  was  once  poor  and  is 
now  rich?  By  following  up  his  individual  case,  we 
shall  be  more  able  to  see  Jiozu  he  acquired  his  wealth." 

"Why  certainly,  Mr.  Midith,  1  will  give  you  the 
particular  case  of  Mr.  Bremmer,  a  German,  who  had 
only  $20  when  he  landed  in  America,  and  who  is  now 
a  wealthy  banker.  I  remember  his  case  so  well  because 
Mr.  Bremmer  has  often  told  me  all  about  his  hard 
labor,  his  judicious  management,  his  frugality,  and 
how  he  passed  from  one  occupation  to  another  as  he 
gradually  acquired  more  and  more  wealth. 

"To  begin  with,  Mr.  Bremmer  is  a  German  by  birth. 
When  he  landed  he  was  a  stout,  healthy  young  man; 
had  a  wife  and  two  small  children  and  only  $20  to  go 
on.  His  appearance  was  prepossessing.  He  began 
his  labor  as  a  section  hand  on  the  railroad,  receiving 
$1.25  a  day.  During  the  winter  when  he  was  not 
employed  on  the  railroad,  he  would  work  at  whatever 
he  could  get  to  do.  If  he  could  not  get  $1.25  a  day, 
he  would  accept  75  cents  or  50  cents  a  day.  Thus, 
even  if  many  others  were  out  of  employment,  he  would 
nearly  always  find  work. 

"After  thus  working  and  saving  for  three  years,  he 
had  saved  enough  to  buy  a  small  hundred-dollar  house, 
with  two  little  rooms  in  it.  After  having  his  own 
house  he  could  accumulate  a  little  faster,  for  he  was 
rid  of  paying  rent.  After  three  more  years  of  industry 
and  saving,  he  purchased,  for  $200,  a  small  piece  of  land 
which  he  turned  into  gardening.  With  his  garden  he 
made  much  more  money  than  he  had  been  making  as 
a  section  hand.  In  a  few  more  years  he  purchased  a 
small  store,  which  he   continually  enlarged.     Now  he 


202  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    IXDIVIDUALISM. 

began  to  pile  up  his  money  faster  and  faster.  A  little 
later  he  purchased  a  factory;  then  he  became  a  land 
dealer;  and  now  he  is  a  banker,  worth  several  millions. 
This  shows  what  industry,  frugality,  and  judicious 
management  will  do;  and  I  believe  that  many,  if  they 
would  work  for  the  wages  offered  them,  could  do  the 
same  as  Mr.  Bremmer  did." 

"Well,  now.  Rev.  Dudley,  let  us  honestly,  candidl}' 
and  impartially  examine  Mr.  Bremmer's  case  and  see 
what  he  really  did  and  liozv  he  got  his  millions,"  said 
Mr.  Midith. 

"You  say  that  he  had  $20  when  he  landed.  That 
he  secured  a  position  as  section  hand,  earning  $1.25  a 
day,  and  during  the  winter  he  accepted  other  labor  at 
from  50  to  75  cents  per  day.  You  say  that  it  took  him 
about  three  years  to  save  the  first  hundred  dollars 
with  which  he  bought  his  little  house.  Just  think  of 
it,  three  years  of  toil  and  saving  for  alittle  house  which 
was  hardly  fit  for  a  human  family  of  four  and  five  to 
live  in! 

"You  say  further  that  Mr.  Bremmer,  as  he  gradually 
acquired  more  and  more  wealth,  successively  changed 
his  occupation  from  section  hand  to  gardener,  from 
gardener  to  merchant,  from  merchant  to  manufacturer, 
then  to  land  speculator,  and  from  that  to  banker.  Of 
course,  we  all  know  why  Mr.  Bremmer  did  not  at  first 
engage  in  manufacturing  and  banking:  Simply  because 
they  require  a  large  amount  of  money  which  Mr.  Brem- 
mer did  not  have.  We  also  all  know  win*  he  quit  the 
section  business:  there  was  too  much  work  and  too 
little  pay.  Once  more,  we  also  all  know  that  a  section 
hand,  as  such,  can  never  become  rich.  You  say  that  Mr. 
Bremmer  saved  a  hundred  dollars  the  first  three  years. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  203 

At  this  rate  a  section  hand,  as  such,  by  his  labor  can 
never  lay  up  as  much  as  ^2,000.  His  life  is  too  short 
even  if  he  spends  the  whole  of  it  in  toil  and  saving. 
Mr.  Bremmer  saw  this  and  changed  his  occupation  as 
soon  as  possible. 

"After  three  years  of  toil  and  saving  he  had  saved 
enough  to  buy  a  one-hundred-dollar  house;  after  three 
more  years,  in  the  same  occupation,  he  had  enough  laid 
up  to  buy  a  two-hundred-dollar  garden  spot. 

"Now  do  you  not  see  the  inequality  and  injustice  in 
your  money  system?  How  slow  and  hard  the  section- 
hand  acquires  it,  and  how  easy  and  abundantly  some 
manufacturers,  land  speculators  and  bankers  acquire 
it?     What  vast  advantages  they  have?" 

"But,"  said  Rev.  Dudley,  "has  not  every  sound  per- 
son an  equal  opportunity  for  acquiring  money,  and 
then  engage  in  those  advantageous  occupations  of 
which  you  speak?  You  see  the  United  States  is  a  free 
country.  No  one  is  forbidden  to  engage  in  any  busi- 
ness." 

At  this  Mr.  Midith  smiled  and  said: 

"I  beg  your  pardon.  Rev.  Dudley,  but  allow  me  to 
tell  you  that  you  are  widely  mistaken  on  these  points. 
I.  All  persons  have  not  an  equal  opportunity  to 
acquire  money.  2.  The  United  States  is  by  no  means  a 
free  country.  3.  A  countless  number  are  forbidden  to 
engage  in  certain  business.  To  illustrate  this,  let  us 
take  Mr.  Bremmer's  case.  You  said  that  he  had  ;^20 
when  he  began  work  and  that  he  acquired  wealth  faster 
after  he  owned  his  house  than  he  did  when  he  rented. 
It  is  true,  then,  that  the  ^20  person,  other  things  being 
the  same,  has  an  equal  financial  opportunity  with  all 
other  $20 persons;  but  he  has  not   an  equal  opportunity 


204  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

.with  the  Sioo,  or  $i,ooo  or  $100,000  person.  He  is  at  a 
disadvantage  with  all  of  them, in  proportion  as  they  have 
more  dollars  than  he  has.  Before  Mr.  Bremmer,  who 
was  a  $20  person,  could  get  rid  of  paying  excessive 
rent,  he  had  to  have  a  Si 00  to  buy  a  house  with.  Now, 
if  Mr.  Bremmer,  with  like  economy,  as  a  section  hand, 
could  save  more  money  when  he  owned  his  house  than 
he  could  when  he  rented,  either  somebody  must  have 
robbed  him  when  he  rented,  or  he  is  robbing  some  one 
now,  for  his  income  was  the  same  in  both  cases. 

"But  mark  you,  now  we  get  to  the  point  of  inequal- 
ity and  injustice.  If  the  Sioo  person  who  owns  the 
house  has  a  financial  advantage,  there  must  be  some 
other  persons,  then,  who  are  under  corresponding  finan- 
cial disadvantage ;  for  an  advantage  consists  only  in  get- 
ting something  at  the  expense  of  another.  A  team- 
ster with  a  heavy  load  can  not  give  one  of  his  two 
horses  an  advantage  by  lengthening  the  end  of  its 
doubletree,  without  at  the  same  time  giving  a  corre- 
sponding disadvantage  to  the  other  one,  by  making 
the  end  of  its  doubletree  relativelyshorter.  But  there 
are  several  ways  by  which  the  teamster  may  make  it 
easier  for  both  of  his  horses.  First,  he  may  improve  the 
running  capacity  of  his  wagon.  Secondly,  he  may 
unload  part  of  his  load.  Thirdly,  he  may  improve  the 
road;  and,  fourthly,  he  may  increase  the  number  of  his 
horses.  Just  so  may  yoviX productive  laborer  ras-'ke.  his  load 
of  production  easier.  First,  by  improving  the  social, 
industrial  and  financial  system.  Secondly,  by  unload- 
ing your  burden  of  superstitions.  Thirdly,  he  may 
improve  the  road  of  advancement  by  consciously  dis- 
seminating useful  knowledge.  And,  fourthly,  by  con- 
tinually refusing  more  and  more  to  produce  the  wealth 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  20$ 

for  the  social  parasite,  so  that  the  social  parasite  must 
put  himself  into  the  harness  to  produce  his  own  com- 
modities. If  every  person  receives  exactly  what  he 
earns,  or  produces,  or  an  equivalent  of  that,  there  can 
be  no  advantages  or  disadvantages  to  any  one,  and  a 
person  as  a  section  hand  could,  under  the  same  condi- 
tions, lay  up  as  much  as  a  gardener,  merchant  or 
banker.  But  there  is  not  a  single  case  on  record  in 
your  entire  industrial  and  financial  world  where  a  sec- 
tion hand,  as  such,  who  has  a  family  of  three  or  four 
children,  has  ever  acquired  property  to  the  amount  of 
$2,000.  The  mystery  to  me  is,  how  do  such  large  fam- 
ilies live  from  such  a  small  income?  But  you  all  know 
that  there  are  many  merchants,  manufacturers  and 
bankers  that  acquired  millions,  even  if  they  had  large 
families.  Why  should  not  your  social  and  industrial 
conditions  be  such  that  a  section  hand  can  acquire 
wealth  as  easily,  rapidly  and  abundantly  as  a  banker? 
Is  his  labor  less  useful  and  less  productive?" 

"Well,  why  does  he  not  become  a  banker,  then?" 
asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"But  if  all  were  bankers,  there  could  be  no  section 
hands;  and  we  can  not  do  without  section  hands,  there- 
fore, some  vuist  be  section  hands  and  must  be  always 
poor  as  such,  while  others  may  be  bankers.  The  secret 
is,  as  in  Mr.  Bremmer's  case,  only  those  who  have  a 
hundred  dollars  can  own  a  house;  only  those  who  own 
;^200  have  the  privilege  of  owning  and  working  a  gar- 
den spot;  only  those  who  have  a  $i,ooo  can  own  any- 
thing of  a  store;  only  those  who  have  more  than  $io,000 
can  be  manufacturers  of  any  considerable  extent;  and 
only  those  who  have  $50,000  can  engage  in  national  bank- 
ing.    These  are  all  financial  privileges  and  advantages 


206  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

then.  The  owner  of  the  house  is  able  to  collect  exor- 
bitant rent  because  there  are  too  many  who  are  unable 
to  buy  or  build  houses,  and  too  few  who  own  houses. 
In  this  case,  gardening  is  more  profitable  than  w^orking 
on  the  section  because  only  those  who  have  $200  can 
engage  in  it,  and  there  are  not  enough  people  who  have 
$200,  and  so  on,  with  the  other  business. 

"Thus  we  see  at  a  glance  that  only  those  who  have 
an  equal  amount  of  wealth  have  an  equal  financial  op- 
portunity. All  who  have  more  have  an  advantage,  while 
all  those  who  have  less  have  a  corresponding  disadvan- 
tage. What  the  Marsites  contend  for  and  what  justice 
demands  is,  that  all  persons  shall  have  an  equal  oppor- 
tunity \rv  getting  the  $50,000.  To  a  Marsite,  it  appears 
much  wiser,  more  just  and  less  ridiculous,  to  have  a 
people  make  and  obey  a  law  and  custom  which  would 
vest  all  persoTis  with  certain  advantages  and  special 
privileges  who  are  born  with  a  wart  on  the  end  of  their 
nose,  claiming  that  such  a  law  and  custom  is  just  on 
the  ground  that  all  persons  in  their  pre-natal  state 
have  an  equal  opportunity  to  compete  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  wart.  In  this  case  probability  would  be  the 
factor  of  success,  while  with  your  money  system  thou- 
sands of  children  are  by  tlieir parental  assistance  born  with 
the  $50,000  advantages,  while  millions  of  others  are 
born  with  the  corresponding  disadvantages;  and  while 
the  disadvantaged  poor  person  is  trying  to  get  the 
$50,000,  the  advantaged  rich  persons,  who  are  already 
in  possession  of  the  $50,000,  are  by  aome  roundabout 
way  charming  it  away  from  the  disadvantaged  almost 
as  fast  as  they  can  earn  it,  so  that  the  poor  can  gain 
only  little  of  nothing  in  the  acquisition  of  the  $50,000. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  20/ 

"Now  let  us  look  at  the  evils  of  your  money  system 
under  this  point  from  still  another  aspect. 

"We  have  seen  that  in  an  average  there  are  probably 
about  two  million  industrious  unemployed  persons,  or 
forced  idlers,  in  the  United  States  alone,  who  can,  as  a 
rule,  have  little,  if  any  capital  or  money  on  hand;  but 
who,  in  order  to  get  employment,  are  all  severely 
pressing  for  a  position  in  those  occupations,  which,  as 
wage-workers,  require  no  capital,  such  as  working  on  a 
section,  mining,  and  all  other  similar  occupations. 
This  industrial  pressure,  or  monopolistic  competition, 
for  a  job  in  those  occupations,  which  requires  no  capital, 
reduces  the  wages  vastly  below  what  the  laborer 
actually  earns. 

"But,  as  I  have  already  shown,  there  can  be  no  finan- 
cial rt'/^advantage  to  one  class  of  persons  without  a 
corresponding  advantage  to  another  class.  From  this 
unjust  advantage  and  disadvantage  two  great  evils  are 
produced,  which  cause  your  world  to  reek  with  poverty, 
crmie,  cruelty,  dissipation,  disease,  and  premature 
death. 

"The  first  one  of  these  great  evils  is,  that  the  advan- 
taged class  have  the  power  to  clog  up  natural  oppor- 
tunity by  monopolizing  land,  money,  tools,  means  of 
transportation,  etc.,  so  that  the  ^/wadvantaged  class  are 
forced  to  accept  the  wages  which  the  advantaged  class 
offer,  or  the  disadvantaged  must  starve,  rob,  steal,  or 
sell  themselves  in  some  form.  Hence,  under  these 
conditions,  no  person  in  your  world  can  ever  hope  to 
secure  himself  against  xvant  and  the  fear  of  want.  They 
may  come  at  any  time  in  spite  of  all  his  industry  and 
providence. 

"The  second  one  of  these  great  evils  is,  that  too 


208  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

many,  as  soon  as  they  have  saved  a  little  wealth,  are 
continually  pressing  into  those  occupations  in  which, 
by  the  aid  of  monopolistic  privileges,  wealth  is  made 
to  produce  wealth,  as  you  term  it.  This,  then,  tends  to 
crowd  too  many  persons  into  those  occupations  which 
require  more  or  less  capital  to  run  them;  such  as 
farming,  manufacturing,  mercantile  pursuits,  banking, 
commerce,  speculation,  etc.  And  as  measured  by  the 
highest  ideal,  social  and  economic  standard,  it  also 
tends  to  create  a  vast  army  of  not  only  useless,  but 
positively  injurious,  persons  and  occupations;  such  as 
middlemen,  the  gambler,  the  speculator,  the  insurance 
agent,  the  traveling  salesman,  the  priest,  the  lawyer, 
the  option  dealer,  the  rumseller,  the  confidence  man, 
the  courtesan,  the  scheming  politician,  etc. 

"Thus  you  see  that  your  occupations  and  profes- 
sions, which  require  capital,  offer  a  premium  on  com- 
paratively unproductive  and  destructive  labor  or  on 
idleness;  and  they  impose  a  fine  on  productive  labor — 
the  fine  that  the  laborer  is  being  robbed  by  the  cap- 
italist. All  thoughtful  persons  know  that  all  human 
beings  must  subsist  on  the  material  products  of  the 
actual  producer,  and  that  the  day's  labor  of  the 
actual  producer,  in  order  to  produce  sufificient  for  all — 
producer  and  non-producer — to  live  on,  must  be 
lengthened  in  proportion  as  the  number  of  idlers,  un- 
productive and  destructive  laborers  increase,  and  also 
in  proportion  as  they  become  consumers  or  as  they 
destroy  and  waste  wealth. 

"To  illustrate  these  evils  more  plainly,  let  us  take 
an  example  which  will  aid  the  ordinary  mind  in  grasp- 
ing the  principles. 

"  Let  us  suppose  that  on  an  isolated  island,  having 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  209 

only  twenty  inhabitants,  these  twenty  inhabitants  or 
islanders,  the  same  as  the  vast  majority  of  the  present 
inhabitants  of  your  earth,  are  yet  sufficiently  unen- 
lightened to  see  the  true  principles  and  fundamental 
aim  of  human  conduct,  and.  so  enact  human-made 
laws,  which  monopolize  land,  money,  tools,  machinery, 
means  of  transportation,  etc.  On  account  of  these 
monopolistic  laws,  or  capitalistic  privileges,  let  us  sup- 
pose that  eight  of  the  twenty  islanders  are  idle  land- 
lords, and  six  comparatively  unproductive  bankers. 
Then  there  would  be  only  six  productive  laborers  left 
who  must  perform  all  the  productive  labor  which  is 
performed  on  the  whole  island.  These  productive 
laborers  must  build  the  residences  of  the  idle  landlords 
and  then  keep  house  for  them.  They  must  erect  and 
maintain  the  costly  banks  and  safes  for  the  bankers. 
They  must  raise  and  manufacture  the  food,  clothing 
and  countless  articles  of  luxuries  for  the  idle  landlord 
and  the  comparatively  unproductive  banker.  The  pro- 
duction of  all  this  wealth  for  the  social  parasites  by  the 
productive  laborer  requires  so  much  of  his  time  and 
energy  that  the  poor  laborers  have  scarcely  any  time 
and  vitality  left  to  supply  their  own  needs.  Hence 
the  laborers  themselves,  as  a  rule,  must  remain  unen- 
lightened, live  at  best  in  small  houses,  or  in  filthy  tene- 
ments or  in  squalid  hovels. 

"Now  every  thoughtful  person  can  clearly  see  by 
this  illustration  that  the  more  these  twenty  islanders 
would  become  non-producers,  the  more  toilsome  the 
burdens  of  the  producers  would  become;  and  if  the 
monopoly  was  so  complete  and  effective  that  only  the 
least  favored  o)ie  had  to  produce  all  the  wealth  for  him- 
self and  for  his  nineteen  social  parasites,  the  social  and 

14 


210  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

industrial  conditions  would  be  in  a  very  deplorable 
state  to  both  the  producer  and  the  non-producers,  as 
compared  with  those  conditions  which  would  exist  if 
the  whole  twenty  persons  would  be  industrious  pro- 
ducers, intelligent  thinkers  and  judicious  actors.  So 
it  is  with  your  society.  The  producers  must  support 
themselves  and  the  vast  army  of  non-producers,  which 
gives  but  a  miserable  support  to  both  classes. 

"But  do  not  understand  me  here  that  the  Marsites 
laud  and  preach  poverty  like  many  of  your  people  do, 
especially  the  orthodox,  who  claim  that  the  poor  will 
get  their  reward  in  heaven.  The  Marsites  detest  pov- 
erty and  its  evil  consequences — ignorance,  crime, 
cruelty,  dissipation,  disease  and  premature  death. 
Poverty  would  be  an  intolerable  burden  for  a  Marsite 
to  bear.  If  the  consequences  of  poverty  were  as  agree- 
able and  produced  as  much  happiness  as  the  conse- 
quences of  plenty,  then  poverty  would  be  as  good  as 
abundance,  and  very  likely  all  worlds  would  always  re- 
main poor. 

"A  Marsite  then,  does  not  object  to  the  wealth  of 
your  wealthy  class,  but  he  would  strenuously  condemn 
the  method  by  which  they  acquired  their  wealth — the 
method  of  appropriating  it  from  the  products  of  the 
productive  laborers,  because  this  vicious,  unjust  method, 
leaves  the  greater  portion  of  one's  companions  and 
associates  poor,  ignorant,  uncultivated,  narrow,  cruel, 
superstitious,  unjust,  slavish,  slovenly,  dissolute  and 
generally  invasive;  and  a  cultivated  person  can  feel  no 
safety  and  find  no  happiness  in  living  a  life  under  such 
lamentable  conditions;  for  this  reason  each  Marsite 
finds  pleasure  in  doing  his  part  in  the  promotion  of 
universal    prosperity,     intelligence,  broadmindedness, 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  211 

freedom,  kindness,  culture,  justice,  order  and    neatness, 
purity  and  non-invasiveness. 

"This  advantage,  then,  that  the  rich  man  has  over  the 
poor  man,  is  the  point  which  we  are  here  considering; 
and,  no  doubt,  all  whose  sense  of  equity  has  not  been 
totally  destroyed  by  vain  selfishness,  as  you  call  it,  and 
avaricious  strife,  can  easily  feel  and  see  this  great  evil 
which  your  unjust  system  of  money  entails  on  the  in- 
habitants of  your  world  on  this  point. 

"  10.  The  tenth  feature  of  a  just  and  convenient 
system  of  money  is,  the  money  must  be  such  that  the 
payee  may  accept  or  take  the  money  instead  of  the  act- 
ual wealth  which  the  money  represents. 

"  On  Mars,  in  a  country  the  size  of  the  United 
States,  there  are  over  20,000  communities,  if  all  the 
land  is  settled,  but  which  it  never  is,  in  each  of  which 
money  is  issued  and  redeemed. 

"  We  have  seen  that  the  only  source  by  which  an 
individual  receives  and  can  receive  money,  unless 
given  to  him,  is  on  his  labor  record.  Whenever  the 
individual  wants  money  he  labors  to  get  a  labor  rec- 
ord, on  which  money  is  issued  only.  This  he  can  do 
or  not  as  he  wishes,  so  that  he  is  free  as  an  individual 
to  accept  the  community's  money  or  not;  for  he  is  free 
to  leave  the  community  at  any  time  and  begin  to  work 
for  himself  single-handedly,  as  you  largely  do  on 
earth;  for  there  is  plenty  of  first-class  land  unoccupied, 
of  which  he  can  cultivate  as  much  as  he  pleases  with- 
out paying  for  it.  The  individual  may  or  may  not 
accept  the  money  of  any  other  individual  or  commu- 
nity. So  may  one  community,  as  a  commercial  body, 
accept  or  refuse  the  money  of  any  other  community. 
Of  course  we  are  always  glad  to  receive  the  money  of 


212  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVinUALISM. 

all  other  communities;  but  there  is  no  compulsion 
about  it.  All  who  handle  money  judge  for  themselves 
whether  it  is  'legal  tender'  or  not.  There  is  no  yfc?/ about 
our  money.  Hence  our  money  possesses  the  tenth 
feature  in  a  high  degree. 

"  On  earth  things  are  altogether  different.  Your 
'national  government,'  a  body  of  politicians,  control  the 
manufacture,  circulation  and  redemption  of  money. 
The  individual  has  to  accept  that  kind  of  money  which 
Congress  makes  legal  tender.  By  this  fiat  thousands 
of  people  are' robbed  on  account  of  the  varying  pur- 
chasing power  of  the  dollar. 

"II.  The  eleventh  feature  of  a  just  and  conven- 
ient system  of  money  is,  that  it  must,  in  its  circulation, 
preserve  a  financial  equilibrium  with  other  parts  of  the 
world,  and  in  proportionate  quantities  must  naturally 
return  to  its  place  of  redemption. 

"From  what  I  have  already  said,  you  are  aware  that 
the  Marsites  have  numerous  places  of  issue  and  re- 
demption, so  that  there  are  thousands  of  fountains, 
one  in  each  community,  from  which  the  money  is 
monthly  issued  to  each  individual  in  proportion  to  his 
labor  performed.  From  these  fountains  of  issue,  it 
circulates  to  all  parts  of  Mars,  and  the  money  of  all 
other  comm.unities  comes  to  our  community;  so  that, 
in  an  average,  one  community  has  as  much  money  of 
all  the  other  communities  in  the  world  as  our  commu- 
nity has  in  its  possession  of  all  other  communities. 
Thus,  in  our  system,  an  almost  perfect  financial  equi- 
librium is  established  and  preserved. 

"Hereon  earth,  in  a  large  country  like  that  of  the 
United  States,  there  is  but  one  place  where  money  is 
issued  and   redeemed.     From  this  one  center  it  must 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  213 

reach  the  masses  of  the  people.  On  the  whole  earth 
only  from  a  few  centers  money  is  issued  and  redeemed. 
This  enables  the  capitalists  to  monopolize  the  money, 
as  the  money  is  passing  from  this  central  fountain  of 
issue  to  the  masses,  as  we  actually  find  it  is  on  earth; 
and  the  facility  of  redemption  is  equally  bunglesome. 

"12.  The  twelfth  feature  of  a  just  and  convenient 
system  of  money  is,  it  must  be  most  directly  issued  to 
the  individual — man,  woman  and  child — who  performs 
the  productive  labor  which  produced  the  wealth  which 
the  money  represents. 

"I  have  already  explained  how,  on  Mars,  every  man, 
woman  and  child  who  labors  get  their  money  issued  on 
their  labor  record  at  the  close  of  each  month.  Also 
how  the  disabled  person  gets  it  similarly  issued  on  a 
gift-XQCoxdi.  Hereafter  1  will  tell  you  how  an  infant 
gets  it. 

"With  you,  the  man,  or  at  least  the  husband,  in 
general  takes  in  all  the  money  the  whole  family  pro- 
duce by  their  united  labor.  Under  such  an  arrange- 
ment, whenever  the  wife  or  child  wants  any  money, 
they  are  obliged  to  ask  the  7nan  for  it.  This  tends  to 
make  beggars  and  slaves  of  the  wife  and  child,  and  a 
tyrant  of  the  man.  Here  the  poor  man  is  probably  as 
much  of  a  monopolist  over  his  family  as  a  capitalist  is 
over  him.  There  are,  however,  a  few  exceptions  to  this 
rule.  A  few  of  your  husbands  give  their  wife  and 
children  free  access  to  their  money.  But  it  is  generally 
expressed  by  you  that  the  hiisbajid,  the  man,  supports 
the  wife  and  children,  even  if  the  wife  labors  twelve 
or  fourteen  hours  a  day,  cooking,  washing,  darning, 
nursing,  keeping  house,  etc.  All  such  labor  as  the  wife 
performs  is,  as  a  rule,  considered  worth  little  or  nothing 


214  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

by  the  vicn ;  because  the  man  has  so  shaped  his  finan- 
cial system  that  the  woman  cannot  take  in  any  of  the 
money  she  earns  by  her  domestic  labor.  Such  is  your 
financial  system  on  this  point,  the  justice  and  conven- 
ience of  which  I  shall  leave  to  any  candid,  intelligent 
person  to  judge  for  himself.  But  ages  ago  our  an- 
cestors were  just  as  cruel, unjust,  unthoughtful,  and  in- 
considerate on  the  financial  problem  as  you  are  at 
present,  and,  no  doubt,  just  as  soon  as  you  learn  that 
your  world  will  be  happier  by  using  a  move  just  and 
convejiient  system  of  money,  which  will  measure  up  to 
all  of  the  foregoing  features,  all  financial  slavery  will 
disappear  from  your  world;  and  all  your  efforts  in  that 
direction  will  then  be  crowned  with  justice,  success 
and  universal  happiness." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SOME  CONNECTION  BETWEEN  WEALTH,  LABOR,    COMMERCE 

INTERCOMMUNICATION,  TRADE  AND  A  MEDIUM  OF 

EXCHANGE. 

"But,  if  each  individual  keeps  his  own  record  of  the 
time  he  has  labored,  and  the  money  is  issued  to  him  or 
her  according  to  that  time-record,  is  not  an  individual 
tempted  to  make  false  entries  in  his  time-book?"  asked 
Rev.  Dudley. 

"I  will  tell  you,  Rev.  Dudley;  we  must  always  bear 
in  mind  that  man's  conduct,  as  a  whole,  always  nearly, 
if  not  exactly,  corresponds  to  the  social  and  industrial 
system  under  which  he  voluntarily  lives.  We  must 
take  into  account  the  conditions,  and  his  culture.  To 
illustrate  this,  let  us  take  an  example:  Cattle,  after 
breaking  into  a  cornfield,  sometimes  kill  themselves  by 
eating  too  much  corn.  Some  children,  as  well  as  some 
grown  people,  on  certain  holidays,  eat  themselves  sick 
on  svv^eetmeats  and  other  dainties.  But  neither  thg 
people  nor  the  cattle  would  eat  too  much,  if  they  always 
had  all  they  wanted  of  those  eatables.  A  clerk  in  a( 
candy  store  seldom  eats  candy.  So  in  our  kind,  rich 
world,  where  men  and  women  work  less  than  two  hours 
a  day  at  some  choice  labor  which  is  almost  play,  and 
where  their  short  pleasant  day's  labor  yields,  by  the 
aid  of  economy,  co-operation  and  machinery,  a  return 
of  more  than  ^lO  worth  of  your  purchasing  power,  the 

215 


2l6  PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

temptation  for  false  entries  must  indeed  be  decidedly 
inconsiderable. 

"In  a  world  where  the  social  and  industrial  con- 
ditions are  so  favorable,  and  where  the  contempt  for 
idleness  and  dishonesty  is  such  a  burden  to  bear,  the 
degree  of  temptation  for  making  false  entries,  for  the 
purpose  of  unjustly  gaining  a  few  hours'  labor,  is  vastly 
different  than  it  would  be  in  your  world,  where  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  are  out  of  employment,  where 
they  are  severely  pinched  by  poverty,  where  the 
laborer  is  nothing  but  an  industrial  slave,  where  the 
wife  and  children  depend  upon  the  income  of  the  man, 
where  the  sense  of  justice  has  been  calloused  by  con- 
tinual infringements  of  rights,  where  want  and  the 
fear  of  want  are  continually  staring  them  in  the  face, 
and  where  fraud,  accomplished  by  avaricious  shrewd- 
ness, is  applauded  instead  of  being  condemned  as  it  is 
in  our  world. 

"And,  furthermore,  one  could  scarcely  be  dishonest 
in  making  his  entries  if  he  wanted  to  be,  without  being 
discovered  by  his  companions  and  co-laborers,  who 
have  as  much  right  to  examine  his  time-book  as  the 
owner  has  himself.  You  see  the  time-books  are  kept 
in  a  public  place  and  maybe  examined  by  anyone. 
La^or,  with  us,  is  honorable,  and  we  have  also  learned 
that  in  order  to  develop  most  completely,  and  enjoy 
the  most  vigorous  health,  about  two  hours  of  physical 
labor  is  daily  necessary.  This,  alone,  would  be  a  suf- 
ficient incentive  to  perform  the  labor,  even  if  we  re- 
quired no  material  wealth  to  live  on.  But  if  one,  not- 
withstanding all  this,  would  still  persist  in  making  false 
entries  or  do  any  other  acts  that  are  grossly  against  the 
well- ascertained  harmon}'  of  society,  we  would  care  for 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  21^ 

him  as  an  insane  person,  giving  him  the  greatest  free- 
dom possible  or  consistent  with  his  mental  derange- 
ment, and  always  treat  him  with  the  greatest  kindness 
and  courtesy.  Such  a  person,  of  all  our  millions,  might 
and  does  occasionaJlly  appear,  but  it  is  a  rare  occur- 
rence. This  treatment  is  .perfectly  consistent  with  the 
greatest  liberty  of  the  case,  for  all  wrong,  as  we  have 
seen,  is  the  result  of  ignorance  or  insanity,  whatever  you 
may  call  it.  This  fact  becomes  very  plain  when  we 
recall  that  we  are  all  in  pursuit  of  the  greatest  happi- 
ness, and  that  we  can  attain  this  greatest  happiness 
only  by  living  most  completely  in  tune  with  the  fact  of 
the  universe." 

"Some  labor,"  said  Mr.  Uwins,  "such  as  mining,  etc., 
is  more  disagreeable  than  clerking,  etc.  You  say  every 
one  receives  equal  pay  for  a  day's  labor;  how,  then,  do 
you  get  laborers  in  these  more  disagreeable  occupa- 
tions if  all  are  free  to  go  in  any  occupation?" 

"Yes,  everyone  can  go  in  any  occupation  he  desires, 
and  all  receive  equal  pay  for  a  day's  labor,  which  is  put 
down  in  the  time-book,  and  at  the  close  of  each  month 
every  person  receives  an  amount  of  money  or  labor- 
checks  equal  to  the  number  of  days  he  or  she  labored. 
But  the  length  of  a  day's  labor  varies  according  as  the 
labor  is,  as  a  whole,  agreeable  or  disagreeable.  A 
clerk  works  more  minutes  a  day  than  a  miner.  So  you 
see  that  we  make  the  proper  adjustment  by  the  length 
of  a  day's  labor.  If  we  get  too  many  laborers  in  a  cer- 
tain field,  we  lengthen  the  day,  this  will  drop  out  some; 
if  too  few,  we  shorten  the  day,  which  will  bring  in  some 
more.  But  you  must  also  bear  in  mind  that  there  is 
very  little  difference  in  the  kinds  of  our  labor  now. 
Nearly  all  the  disagreeableness  disappears  as  we  do  the 


2l8  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

work  more  and  more  by  the  aid  of  improved  machin- 
ery. Our  mining  is  now  nearly  all  dtme  by  machinery 
which  is  easily  manipulated  by  the  miner;  and  so  in 
all  occupations.  Co-operation  continually  creates  a 
greater  demand  for  better  and  larger  machinery,  which 
is  operated  for  the  benefit  of  all.  Nearly  all  our  labor 
can  also  be  done  by  the  piece,  so  much  constituting  a 
day." 

"  But,  Mr.  Midith,  do  you  think  it  is  just  to  pay 
everybody  alike  for  a  day's  labor,  when  some  are  much 
stronger  and  more  apt  workers  than  others,  when  some 
arc  skilled  and  others  are  not?  Does  this  not  tend  to 
throw  nearly  all  the  laborers  in  the  coininon  field  of 
labor,  instead  of  being  skilled?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 
"  Of  course  you  have  seen  the  practical  results  of  it, 
but  for  my  part  I  do  not  understand  how  you  overcame 
this  apparent  or  real  difficulty." 

"It  is  really  no  difficulty  at  all,"  said  Mr.  Midith. 
"To  illustrate:  You  have  a  small  family  and  we  have 
a  large  family.  Your  parents  pay  a  200-pound  son  or 
daughter  no  more  for  a  day's  labor  than  they  pay  a 
feebler  one.  They  even  pay  the  totally  disabled  one 
the  same.  I  presume  that  you  think  such  a  course  is 
all  right  in  your  family,  but  why  should  it  not  be 
equally  right  in  our  family  and  in  our  community?  But 
that  is  not  all.  A  person  weighing  200  pounds,  as  a 
rule,  eats  more  than  a  1 00-pound  person,  but  pays  the 
same  price  for  his  meals.  The  large  person  receives 
more  cloth  in  his  suit.  He  buys  a  larger  hat  for  the 
same  price.  On  account  of  his  greater  weight  he  wears 
out  more  carpet,  more  furniture,  etc.  So  you  see  that 
a  large,  strong  person  may  sometimes  produce  a  little 
more  by  a  day's  labor,  but   he  also  often  receives  more 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  2I9 

for  the  same  pay,  so  that  the  two  nearly  or  altogether 
balance  each  other.  But  this  is  not  all.  You  remember 
me  telling  you  that  in  a  state  of  high  culture,  in  which 
all  are  free,  intelligent  beings,  and  in  which  natural  op- 
portunity is  equally  open  to  all,  there  can  be  very  little 
physical  and  mental  difference  between  the  individual 
members  of  the  same  community,  because  none  of  them 
have  been  dwarfed  by  heredity,  none  have  been  stunted 
by  vicious  training,  and  none  have  been  prevented 
from  giving  full  scope  of  activity  to  all  their  faculties. 
And  furthermore,  with  our  excellent  facilities  for  inter- 
communication, there  is  even  little  physical  and  mental 
dissimilarity  existing  between  members  of  remotely  lo- 
cated communities. 

"  Your  idea  as  to  our  skilled  labor  is  also  entirely 
erroneous.  Every  member  of  our  large  family,  the 
same  as  a  member  of  your  small  family,  can  engage  in 
any  occupation  he  desires,  whether  man,  woman  or 
child.  Itf  costs  nothing  with  us  to  learn  a  trade.  A  per- 
son who  is  learning  a  trade  receives  just  as  much  the 
first  day  he  begins  as  he  does  when  he  is  the  best 
mechanic  in  the  world.  A  day  is  a  day.  But  to  excel 
in  our  work  is  the  aim  and  ambition  of  all.  We  look 
upon  honesty,  kindness  and  physical  and  mental  ability 
with  even  greater  approval  than  you  look  upon  mere  dol- 
lars and  cents  in  this  unjust,  cruel  age  of  yours.  An  ap 
prentice  with  you  receives  at  first  little  or  no  pay,  and 
sometimes  he  must  even  pay  the  '  boss'  for  taking  him. 
For  this  reason  he  must,  further  on,  receive  higher  pay 
than  a  common  laborer.  As  a  whole,  the  apprentice's 
efforts  are  as  valuable  as  the  skilled  man's,  for  we  can 
not  get  skilled  men  and  women  without  first  being  ap- 
prentices.    But  our  fajnily  and  community  recognize 


220  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

the  fact  that  vvc  must  have  laborers  for  all  trades,  and 
therefore  we  pay  them  the  same  price  when  learning  as 
we  do  after  they  have  learned  their  trade.  You  sec, 
skilled  labor,  under  these  conditions,  is  worth  no  more 
than  common  labor,  as  you  call  it.  It  not  only  does 
not  cost  anything  to  learn  a  trade,  but  we  receive  as 
much  for  learning  as  we  do  ever  after.  Our  ambition 
is  to  excel — to  receive  the  approval  of  our  companions 
and  co-laborers.  Our  individuals,  families  and  com- 
munities are  even  much  prouder  of  excellent  sons  and 
daughters  than  your  parents  or  families  are  here.  We 
do  all  we  can  to  raise  the  standard  of  excellence  and 
proficiency  in  every  member  of  the  community  by  let- 
ting each  receive  the  good  and  the  bad  consequences 
of  his  own  conduct.  Intrinsic  worth  is  our  highest 
aim,  because  without  it  the  greatest  happiness  can  not 
be  attained." 

"Does  it  require  much  labor  to  stamp  your  money, 
and  could  a  person  who  has  charge  of  the  moftey  press 
be  dishonest,  if  he  chose  to  be?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"Our  money  press  is  run  by  electric  power,  and  re- 
quires only  a  few  days'  labor  per  annum  to  stamp  all  the 
money  we  need.  It  is  all  done  by  the  press;  no  human 
hand  is  needed  only  to  set  it  going.  It  would  be  im- 
possible for  the  minter  to  be  dishonest,  or  for  any  other 
person  to  use  the  money-press.  Each  community  has 
but  one  money  press,  and  every  press  is  different.  The 
press  automatically  registers  the  number  of  bills,  and 
the  total  amount  of  days,  hours,  minutes  and  seconds  that 
it  stamps.  At  the  beginning  of  each  fiscal  year  the  press 
is  set  at  bill  No.  i,  and  the  amount  issued,  at  cipher. 
This  setter  is  guarded  by  a  time-lock,  which  can  be 
opened  only  one  hour  during  the  whole  year  when  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  221 

machine  is  set  for  the  next  year's  work.  The  press  can 
by  no  possibility  be  turned  backward,  and  the  time-lock 
permits  it  to  be  operated  forward  only  just  two  hours 
a  month,  during  which  time  the  minter  stamps  the 
monthly  bills.  So  you  see  that  neither  the  minter  nor 
any  one  else  can  be, dishonest  if  he  tried  to  be.  This 
precaution  is  not  so  much  taken  against  fraud  as  against 
accidental  error.  We  should  always  bear  in  mind  that 
the  simplest  business  system  that  allows  the  fewest 
intentional  or  accidental  errors  to  creep  in  and  remain 
undiscovered  is  the  best  system.  At  the  end  of  each 
month  all  the  labor  records  received  at  the  mint  are 
booked  and  footed  up,  and  the  total  monthly  amount  of 
money  issued  In  this  wise  the  minter  always  has  two 
sets  of  figures,  the  one  on  his  book  and  the  other  on  the 
register  of  the  money  press.  These  two  sets  of  figures 
must  indicate  the  same  amount  of  money  issued." 

"That  is  a  grand  scheme,"  said  Rev.  Dudley.  "But 
how  is  it  with  your  other  business?  Is  that  sealed 
with  the  same  unavoidable  honesty  and  correctness  as 
your  money  making  is?" 

"All  our  business  is  done  on  nearly  the  same  prin- 
ciple. Besides  the  individual  who  transacts  his  private 
business  to  suit  his  own  taste,  there  are  two  collectivi- 
ties that  do  business — the  family  and  the  community. 
These  two  always  check  each  other.  The  family's 
annual  invoice  shows  the  goods  on  hand.  Its  daily  re- 
mittances to  the  'Com'  show  all  the  money  it  has  taken 
in,  in  all  its  departments — store,  dining-hall,  barber- 
shop, restaurant,  etc.  The  warehouses,  which  keep  an 
account  of  all  the  commodities  they  receive  and  send 
out,  check  it  up  with  the  goods  it  receives  from  the 
community,  and  the  'Com'  checks  it  with  the  bills  the 


222  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

'Com'  paid  for  it  to  other  communities  for  goods  the 
family  purchased. 

"In  a  similar  manner,  the  'Com'  of  the  community 
checks  with  all  its  families  and  with  all  its  warehouses. 
Under  such  a  system  it  is  hardly  possible  that  an  error 
can  be  passed  unnoticed." 

"But  I  see  no  opportunity  in  your  economic  system 
for  capital  to  earn  anything,"  said  Rev.  Dudley. 

"Capital  never  does  earn  anything,"  responded  Mr. 
Midith.  "Labor  earns  all.  This  idea  of  yours  that 
capital  earns  something  is  an  illusion.  We  have  seen 
that  all  material  wealth  which  immediately  satisfies 
man's  wants,  consists  of  food,  clothing,  shelter  and 
luxuries,  and  that  all  these  can  be  actually  produced 
only  by  productive  labor.  The  physical  molecules,  as 
such,  composing  a  plow  are  not  wealth,  but  the  plow 
is  wealth  no  farther  than  it  required  productive  labor 
in  its  production.  For  all  we  know,  there  is  an  inex- 
haustible amount  of  iron  and  steel  waiting  for  us  to  be 
mined,  and  an  inexhaustible  opportunity  for  raising  the 
wood  necessary  in  the  manufacture  of  plows.  The  tools 
with  which  the  plow  is  made  were  also  all  produced 
by  labor.  In  a  just,  economic  system  every  laborer, 
whether  man,  woman,  or  child,  should  receive  exactly 
all  he  earns,  no  more  and  no  less;  and,  if  they  do  that, 
there  will  be  nothing  left  for  capital,  for  all  wealth 
must  be  produced  by  labor. 

"Let  us  take  an  example  to  illustrate  this.  We  will 
say  that  our  community  owns  a  machine  for  boring 
artesian  wells,  a  machine  which  is  not  owned  by  c^'crjy 
community.  Now,  we  first  do  our  own  work  with  it; 
then  some  other  community  desires  us  to  sink  a  well 
for  them.     Our  communit\-  sends  a  cranir  of    men-  with 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  223 

the  machine  to  sink  the  well  for  so  much  per  foot. 
We  have  expended  so  much  labor  in  the  production  of 
the  machine;  it  requires  so  many  men  to  operate  it;  it 
wears  so  long,  and,  the  average  work  will  be  so  much. 
According  to  these  factors,  which  have  been  ascertained 
by  long  experience,  we  make  our  charge  per  foot,  so 
that  every  person  who  labored  in  the  production  of  the 
machine,  as  well  as  those  who  operate  it  during  the 
whole  existence  of  the  machine,  just  receive  their  da3^'s 
wages  and  no  more.  Free  competition  determines 
this  price  per  foot.  We  have  no  profit.  You  see  if 
our  community  is  not  well  adapted  for  boring  wells,  it 
will  not  engage  in  it;  and,  if  it  should  do  so,  it  will  soon 
be  crowded  out  by  those  communities  who  are  better 
adapted  for  it.  All  the  communities  are  free  competi- 
tors in  all  fields  of  industry.  This  free,  non-monopolistic 
competition  has  slowly  eliminated  all  profit.  Every 
community  has  an  immense  amount  of  capital  in  its 
'big-houses,'  warehouses,  and  depots;  but  this  capital 
earns  nothing;  no  interest  and  no  profit;  it  is  even 
slowly  decaying — a  loss  which  must  be  repaired  by  the 
labor  of  the  members  of  the  community.  For  this 
reason  all  communities  are  eager  to  sell  their  ne- 
gotiable commodities,  so  as  to  hold  the  money 
of  other  communities,  instead  of  holding  their  own 
commodities.  From  what  I  have  already  said,  it  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  say  here  that  money  is  not  capi- 
tal, but  that  it  is  only  a  representative  of  capital.  We 
are  not  working  for  money  but  for  the  material  wealth, 
food,  clothing,  shelter,  and  luxuries  which  the  money 
represents.  In  this  manner,  I  think,  you  can  clearly 
see  that  labor  earns  all,  for  all  the  money  is  issued  to 
the  laborer,  and  that  free  competition,  founded  on  a 


224  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

non-monopolistic  supply  and  demand,  determines  the 
price  of  all  commodities  and  regulates  the  amount  of 
their  needful  production." 

"But,"  said  Viola,  as  she  took  hold  of  Mr.  Midith's 
hand,  "if  a  laborer  receives  exactly  all  he  earns,  who, 
then,  pays  for  the  wear  and  tear  of  your  property?" 

Mr.  Midith  smiled  and  said:  "The  laborer  does.  We 
are  all  laborers,  and  the  laborer  produces  everything 
and  pays  for  everything.  Let  us  see  if  I  can  make 
this  point  clear  to  you;  if  not,  I  shall  have  to  take  you 
with  me  to  Mars  as  soon  as  I  shall  be  able  to  go.  But 
let  that  be  as  it  may,  the  point  is,  that  the  individuals 
of  the  community  must  perform  so  many  days  or  hours 
of  productive  labor  per  annum  to  keep  up  the  supply 
of  wealth  and  make  all  needful  repairs  and  improve- 
ments. We  have  painters  that  are  always  painting 
new  things  and  old  things.  We  have  boulevard  and 
motor-line  repairers.  We  have  a  gang  of  builders  that 
are  always  building,  rebuilding  and  repairing.  We 
have  laborers  to  work  in  the  park  and  other  places. 
There  is  a  constant  wear  on  everything — furniture,  ma- 
chinery, cars,  trees,  etc.,  etc.  Just  as  any  one  would 
keep  the  same  orchard  for  any  length  of  time  by  always 
planting  a  new  tree  as  soon  as  the  old  one  dies,  so  we 
keep  on  making  new  things  and  repairing  and  improv- 
ing old  ones.  This,  of  course,  makes  our  day's  labor 
longer  than  it  would  be  if  there  were  no  such  wear  and 
tear.  Every  day's  labor,  in  an  average,  then,  must  be 
long  enough  to  include  the  production  of  the  new 
things  we  need  and  the  repair  of  the  old  ones.  When 
a  babe  is  born,  it  has  always  a  home  waiting  for  it  in 
which  it  can  live  all  its  lifetime.  It  enjoys,  in  all  re- 
spects, the  same  privileges  that  any  other  member  of 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  225 

the  family  enjoys,  and  the  first  hour's  work  it  performs, 
it  begins  to  pay  for  its  home  and  other  public  conven- 
iences, and  continues  to  pay  for  them  every  day  it 
works.  So  you  see  that  a  day's  labor  must  be  long 
enough  to  cover  all  production  and  all  wear  and  tear. 
Thus,  if  a  member  of  our  community  should  go  to 
work  for  any  other  community  which  could  advanta- 
geously employ  more  labor,  he  would  receive  all  he  act- 
ually earned  and  pay  for  all  his  actual  wear  and  tear 
on  the  property  of  the  community  in  which  he  is  work- 
ing. In  this  manner,  a  person  can  go  wherever  he  de- 
sires and  generally  work  when  and  where  he  likes.  He 
pays  the  same  price  for  his  meals  as  he  does  at  home. 
He  receives  a  private  apartment  where  he  is  'lord  and 
master'  and  in  which  he  does  his  own  chamber  work, 
the  same  as  at  home.  He  pays  for  all  his  washing  the 
same  as  he  does  at  home.  When  he  works  the  wear 
and  tear  of  the  public  property  he  uses  is  included  in 
his  day's  work.  If  he  does  not  work,  he  is  considered 
a  visitor  and  pays  the  same  price  for  things  he  pays  at 
home." 

"How  plainly,"  said  Mr.  Uwins,  "can  we  see  now  how 
all  the  Marsites'  machinery  is  operated  in  the  interest  of 
the  people  instead  of  being  operated  in  the  interest  of 
a  few  rich  monopolists,  as  is  largely  the  case  here. 
Still  our  laborers,  as  a  class,  think  that  we  can  not  get 
along  without  capitalists  or  millionaires.  They  always 
seem  to  imagine  that  capital  is  the  greatest  factor  in 
the  production  of  wealth.  That  the  productive  in- 
dustry of  the  world  would  be  fatally  crippled  or  totally 
destroyed  if  there  were  no  millionaires  to  keep  it  up. 
But  how  conspicuous  the  error  of  all  this  becomes  as 
we  become  more  familiar  with  your  just  system.     In 


226  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

order  to  avoid  being  misunderstood,  let  me  state  here 
that  by  the  foregoing  remarks  you  plainly  see  that 
we  highly  esteem  capital  or  wealth.  But  we  believe 
that  no  one  can  be  really  rich  without  all  being  rich,  or 
at  least  all  being  above  want.  What  we  condemn  is 
the  system  which  enables  some  to  become  capitalists  or 
millionaires  by  appropriating  the  wealth  produced  by 
others  by  monopoly.  We  do  not  even  particularly 
condemn  the  millionaire.  He  is  a  creature  of  circum- 
stances, a  product  of  a  system." 

"But  does  not  your  social  and  industrial  system,  in 
which  all  are  equal,  kill  ambition  and  high  aspirations?" 
asked  Rev.  Dudley.  "It  seems  to  me  that  a  person 
would  have  little  incentive  for  work  if  he  could  not  lay 
up  something  for  a  rainy  day." 

"Things  in  our  world  actually  prove  to  be  nearly 
the  opposite  from  what  you  seem  to  imagine  them  to 
be,  Rev.  Dudley.  People  once  believed  that  the  earth 
was  flat;  but  a  wider  range  of  information  proved  it  to 
be  round.     So  in  every  field  of  thought  and  inquiry. 

"In  the  first  place  allow  me  to  inform  you  that  there 
are  very  few  rainy  days  with  us.  We  live  so  strictly 
according  to  the  laws  of  life  and  health  that  disease  is 
almost  unknown,  and  hence  nearly  every  person  keeps 
his  bodily  vigor  almost  unimpaired  until  he  dies  of  old 
age.  Our  constitutions  are  not  wrecked  by  anxiety, 
toil,  exposure,  anger  and  debauchery.  Nearly  all  of 
our  old  people  find  pleasure  in  doing  a  certain  amount 
of  physical  work  for  healthful  exercise.  Work  to  them 
has  become  very  agreeable,  because  they  were  never 
burdened  with  it  like  nearly  all  of  you  are  or  have 
been.  It  is  the  burdensomeness  of  work  that  makes  it 
disagreeable. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  227 

"You  say  there  would  be  no  ambition  to  labor  if  a 
person  was  unable  to  lay  up  something  for  a  rainy  day. 
I  thoroughly  agree  with  you  on  that  point.  We  all  lay 
up  more  than  we  need  for  our  rainy  days.  If  we  work 
three-fourths  of  the  time  we  can  travel  and  visit  the 
other  fourth,  spend  all  we  want,  and  are  still  able  to  lay 
up  one-fourth  of  our  entire  earnings;  and  when  we  do 
work  our  work  is  almost  play.  These  favorable  con- 
ditions ought  to  inspire  us  with  a  high  average  ambi- 
tion. Every  man,  woman  and  youth  has  his  purse  full 
of  money.  They  are  all  independent  and  self-reliant. 
Each  is  a  little  savings  bank  for  himself. 

"Now  let  us  look  with  a  just  and  unbiased  eye  at 
your  conditions.  Nearly  all  your  women  and  children 
have  to  beg  what  little  money  they  get  from  a  man, 
who,  as  a  rule,  handles  the  money.  Do  you  think, 
Rev.  Dudley,  that  such  a  condition  inspires  a  woman 
and  a  child  with  great  ambition  to  work?  Our  women 
and  children  draw  their  own  pay  at  the  end  of  each 
month.  A  person's  ambition  always  corresponds  to 
the  brightness  of  a  person's  present  and  future  outlook; 
and  does  the  future  look  bright  to  the  multitude  of 
your  laborers?  Look  at  the  millions  of  men — day 
laborers — who  have  a  family,  who  are  sometimes  out 
of  employment,  who  are  cursed  and  driven  like  slaves 
by  their  bosses,  who  have  want  staring  them  in  the 
face,  who  are  unable  to  give  the  wife  and  child  money 
when  they  ask  for  it,  who  can  plainly  see,  that  under 
the  present  conditions,  they  can  never  lay  up  anything 
from  the  $1.25  they  receive  for  their  day's  labor,  and 
not  infrequently  during  old  age  they  land  in  the  poor 
house.  Do  you  think  that  this  vast  army  of  poor 
laborers  can,  under  such  dependent,  pitiful  conditions, 


228  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

be  inspired  with  great  ambition  for  labor,  and  order, 
and  honesty,  and  kindness,  and  truthfulness?  The  vast 
majority  of  your  productive  laborers  are  working  for 
others,  they  having  no  direct  interest  in  the  produc- 
tion of  their  labors.  We  are  all  working  for  ourselves; 
the  more  we  do  the  more  we  get.  On  account  of  your 
monopoly,  there  are  more  laborers  than  there  are 
places  for  laborers;  this  makes  wages  low  and  creates 
an  army  of  forced  idlers.  Do  you  think  that  such  con- 
ditions are  conducive  to  a  high  ambition,  and  that  a 
model  industry  can  flourish  under  them? 

"  Now  let  us  extend  our  comparison  a  little  further. 
I  have  already  remarked  several  times  that,  in  our 
world,  there  is  a  sharpy  free,  iicvcr-ending  competition 
for  the  highest  plane  of  perfection  between  individu- 
als, between  families  and  between  communities.  We 
settle  all  advancement  by  free  competition,  in  which 
every  one  is  invited  a  competitor,  to  stand  on  his  or 
her  own  merits.  Some  of  us  have  talents  and  apti- 
tudes for  one  thing  and  some  for  another.  We  are  by 
no  means  all  inclined  the  same  industrially.  We  are 
all  endeavoring  to  push  forward  to  the  highest  possible 
plane  in  our  respective  fields  of  aspirations.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  on  account  of  so  much  extreme  pov- 
erty, and  wretchedness  resulting  from  poverty,  the 
people  of  earth  have  scarcely  any  other  ambition  than 
the  accumulation  of  dollars  and  cents,  in  order,  on  the 
one  hand,  to  occupy  your  best  so-called  social  posi- 
tions, and  on  the  other  to  keep  want  and  the  fear  of 
want  from  your  door.  We  have  learned  that  dollars 
and  cents  are  easily  gotten  after  other  things  have 
been  adjusted  harmoniously.  We  fundamentally  seek 
for    higher   and    nobler    aspirations.      After    having 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  229 

obtained  them  the  dollars  and  cents  will  easily  come. 
We  seek  to  learn  how  to  co-operate  most  harmoni- 
ously; how  to  allow  each  individual  the  widest  range 
of  individual  freedom;  how  to  acquire  the  greatest 
and  most  useful  information  about  the  phenomenal 
universe;  how  to  do  our  respective  parts  well,  and  how 
to  build  our  happiness  on  the  happiness  of  our  fellow- 
man.  Such  are  some  of  our  aspirations,  the  field  of 
which,  no  doubt,  is  so  vast  that  it  can  never  be  com- 
pletely explored  by  the  power  of  human  wisdom." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

OWNERSHIP  OF  LAND. 

"There  is  another  fundamental  question,  Mr. 
Midith,  that  I  have  been  wanting  to  ask  you  for  some 
time,"  said  Mr.  Uwins  as  we  were  ready  the  next  even- 
ing to  listen  to  Mr.  Midith's  Marsian  narrative,  "and 
that  question  is  the  ozvjicrsliip  of  la7id.  I  have  thought 
and  written  quite  extensively  on  that  subject,  but  have 
thus  far  not  been  able  to  solve  it  to  my  entire  satis- 
faction. We  would  undoubtedly  be  very  much  pleased 
to  have  you  give  us  an  account  of  the  Marsian  theory 
and  practice  of  owning  land.  It  is  certainly  a  funda- 
mental question,  for,  as  you  said,  all  wealth  covacs  from 
or  ontofthQ  land  by  the  application  of  labor." 

"That  is  very  true,"  said  Mr.  Midith;  "it  is  one  of 
the  fundamental  problems  of  economics,  and,  when 
once  solved,  it  is  apparently  the  simplest. 

"Land  is  not  produced  by  labor,  and,  therefore,  we 
do  not  consider  land  wealth  like  you  do.  Of  course 
the  improvement  made  on  land  is  wealth  and  belongs 
exclusively  to  the  producers.  We  recognize  the  right 
of  owning  land  only  by  occupancy  and  iise,  not  by  deed, 
or  paper  title,  as  yob  pretend  to  own  it.  Vacant  land 
is  as  free  with  us  as  air  and  sea,  because  there  is  much 
more  highly  productive  land  now,  and  probably  ever 
will  be,  than  the  human  inhabitants  of  any  planet  can 
utilize.     At  least,   I  believe,  no  one  can  produce  trust- 

230 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  23 1 

worthy  evidence  to  the  contrar}-.  By  vacant  land  I 
mean  all  that  land  which  is  not  worked  at  all,  and  all 
that  which,  under  monopoly,  is  worked  for  a  landlord, 
by .  renters  or  by  wage-workers.  For  example:  A 
vacant  farm  or  town-lot,  a  rented  farm  or  town-lot,  and 
a  farm  or  town-lot  worked  for  a  land-owner  by  wage- 
workers  under  monopolistic  laws  like  the  laws  of  own- 
ing land  by  deed  or  paper  title.  In  short,  by  'vacant 
land,'  I  mean  all  unoccupied  land,  and  all  land  that 
would  not  be  utilized  by  the  present  owners  if  all 
monopolistic  land  privileges  were  removed. 

"Our  communities  consist  of  about  120  families,  or 
120,000  persons  each,  and  contain  about  144  square 
miles  of  land,  populated  nearly  twice  as  densely  as 
Belgium,  the  secret  of  which  I  have  already  told  you. 
Yet  there  is  plenty  of  highly  productive  land  left  un- 
occupied for  additional  communities  or  individuals, 
should  they  ever  desire  it.  We  never  entertain  any 
fear  of  over-population.  It  is  highly  probable  that  a 
highly-intelligent,  well-adjusted  human  society  will 
never  be  pressed  with  over-population,  as  we  shall  con- 
sider more  fully  under  the  head  of  sex  relations." 

"  But  did  the  Marsians  always  own  land  only  by 
occupancy  and  use  like  you  now  do?"  asked  Mrs. 
Uwins. 

"Oh,  no;  our  ancestors  owned  it  by  deed  like  you 
own  it  now.  But  in  time,  the  most  thoughtful  men 
and  women  began  to  feel  that  it  is  wrong  to  own  and 
control  the  whole  or  a  portion  of  the  earth's  surface 
by  virtue  of  a  deed,  or  paper  title.  They  reasoned 
something  like  this:  If  a  person  has  a  just  right  to 
own,  by  deed,  forty  acres  of  the  earth's  surface  and  all 
what  is  beneath  that  surface  to  the  center  of  the  earth, 


232  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATYVf:    INlMVIDUALlSMv 

for  that  is  the  depth  a  farm  is  claimed  to  extend  dowft- 
ward,  tlien  he  has  an  equal,  just  ri_<^ht  to  own,  in  a 
similar  manner,  any  amount  of  it." 

"Upon  A\hat  principle,  Mr.  Midith,  do  )'ou  claim 
that  it  is  more  wrong  to  own  land  by  deed  than  to  own 
it  by  occiipaney  and  tisef    asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"The  principle  of  the  one  is  entirely  different  from 
the  principle  of  the  other.  When  an  individual  or 
collection  of  individuals  own  land  by  occupancy  and 
use  only,  he  makes  his  own  physical  powers  the 
measure  of  the  amount  he  can  occupy  and  use,  which 
can  cover  only  a  small  area;  for  man's  physical  powers 
to  occupy  and  use  land  are  very  limited.  He  can  use 
but  a  very  limited  area  to  stand  on,  to  lie  on,  to  build 
his  residence  on,  and  to  use  for  agricultural  and  sport- 
ive purposes.  He  can  occupy  and  use  only  so  little  of 
the  earth's  surface  that  there  will  be  more  left  than  all 
the  rest  of  the  human  race  can  similarly  utilize.  Under 
these  conditions  there  could  be  no  land  monopoly,  and 
with  the  disappearance  of  land  monopoly  nearly  all 
other  monopoly  would  disappear;  for  all  wealth  comes 
from  the  land  by  the  application  of  labor,  and  if  vacant 
land  were  free  all  could  apply  their  labor  to  land  and 
produce  their  necessary  wealth.  No  one  would  be  out 
of  employment.  No  one  would  work  for  less  than  he 
actually  earned.  With  vacant  land  free  no  one  would 
be  the  industrial  slave  of  another. 

"By  deed,  under  certain  conditions,  an  individual,  or 
a  small  collection  of  individuals,  may  own  the  ivliole 
land  area  of  the  earth  or  of  any  other  planet  or  world. 
There  is  no  further  limit  to  the  amount  of  land  an  indi- 
vidual ma)'  own  by  deed.  This  causes  land  monop- 
oly and  industrial  slavery,  because  if  a  few  own  large 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  233 

tracts  of  land  by  deed,  there  is  not  enough  left  to  supply 
all  the  remainder  of  mankind.  This  causes  land 
monopoly,  and  land  monopoly  causeseithar  directly  or 
indirectly  nearly  all  other  forms  of  monopoly.  Let  us 
illustrate  this  a  little  more  fully: 

"A  person  who  claims  to  own  a  forty-acre  farm  by 
virtue  of  a  deed  he  holds  of  it,  claims  to  have  a  legal 
right  to  remove  forcibly  any  and  all  human  beings 
from  the  same  if  he  chooses,  and,  if  he  cannot  remove 
them  as  an  individual,  the  government  from  which  he 
bought  the  deed  must  assist  him  in  making  the  re- 
moval or  eviction. 

"But  if  one  has  a  legal  right  to  own  40  acres  by  deed, 
he  has  an  equal  legal  right  to  own  40,000  acres,  or  the 
whole  United  States,  or  the  whole  earth.  Under  this 
condition,  the  individual  or  individuals  who  own  the 
earth  would  be  masters,  and  all  the  rest  of  the  human 
race  would  be  slaves. 

"The  owner  or  owners  of  this  land,  composing  the 
United  States  or  the  earth,  would  have  a  perfect  legal 
right  to  demand  all  his  or  their  fellowmen  to  vacate 
the  land.  But  he  (if  one  owns  it)  owns  all  the  dry  land, 
and  nothing  but  water  surface  is  left  for  the  non-land- 
owners. And,  if  the  non-landowners  are  loyal  and 
true  to  their  government  and  to  the  landlord,  they  must 
immediately  vacate  all  dry  land,  which  implies  that  they 
must  all  drown  in  the  water  area  not  covered  by  the 
landlord's  deed,  whenever  the  landlord  demands  it;  if 
they  refuse  to  do  so  they  are  rebels  and  a  deed  becomes 
a  legal  farce. 

"There  is  one  other  important  point  to  be  con- 
sidered under  this  head;  the  point  is,  that  if  we  trace 
the   abstract   of   a   deed   back   to    the   first  pretended 


234  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

owner,  whether  individual  or  nation,  we  find  liimtobe 
a  fraud,  a  thief,  or  a  robber;  that  is,  he  obtained  the 
land  by  fraud,  or  by  force,  or  by  robbery,  or  by  con- 
quest, or  by  discovery.  He  did  not  create  it  by  labor, 
nor  was  the  deed  given  to  him  by  the  Creator.  Such 
is  the  condition  of  ownership  of  land  by  deed. 

"All  wealth,  as  we  have  already  seen,  organized-self, 
material  and  mental,  comes  ultimately  from  the  earth, 
and  requires  labor  for  its  production.  The  man  and 
the  land  must  be  permitted  to  come  together  or  the 
man  must  starve. 

"Under  the  deed  system,  the  landlord  has y?r.y/ the 
right  to  fence  the  poor  off  from  the  land,  and  then 
make  a  bargain  with  him  for  his  labor;  the  laborer  is 
bound  to  accept  what  the  landlord  is  pleased  to  pay 
him,  or  the  laborer  must  starve,  since  the  laborer  is  pre- 
vented to  apply  his  labor  to  land  from  which  all  wealth 
is  produced.  Land  is  monopolized  by  deed.  To  illus- 
trate: The  present  population  of  the  earth  is  about 
one-and-a-half  billions,  and  the  total  land  area  of  the 
same  is  about  fifty-three  millions  of  square  miles. 
Hence,  each  individual  born  on  earth  is  by  nature  en- 
titled to  a  proportionate  share  of  this  land;  and  his  fair 
share  of  this  land  is  far  more  than  a  person  could  util- 
ize, if  land  were  owned  only  by  occupancy  and  use. 
Hence,  if  any  person  is  in  need  of  land,  somebody  has 
robbed  him  of  his  birthright. 

"Thus  is  the  laborer  at  a  great  disadvantage,  when 
the  land  is  owned  or  monopolized  by  deed.  But  now 
notice  the  difference  when  vacant  land  is  free.  If  the 
landlord  had  to  make  the  contract  with  the  laborer  for 
his  work,  before  the  landlord  had  the  legal  right  to  fence 
the  laborer  off  from  the  vacant  land,  the  laborer  would 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  235 

work  for  no  less  than  he  actually  earned;  if  the  land- 
lord would  not  pay  him  that  amount,  the  laborer  would 
work  land  for  himself  wherever  he  would  find  some 
vacant,  and  receive  the  full  benefit  of  his  labor. 

"Thus  if  one  person  owns  the  whole  surface  of  the 
earth,  or  other  planet,  by  a  deed  or  paper  title,  and  all 
the  remainder  of  the  inhabitants  were  living  on  it  by 
Xxi's,  permission,  the  conditions  of  the  world  would  be  the 
worst  conceivable  as  regards  owning  land.  If  ten  indi- 
viduals owned  it  similarly,  the  conditions  would  be  bad, 
but  somewhat  better  than  they  would  be  if  one  owned 
it,  and  so  on  up. 

"So  the  Marsites  gradually  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  no  one  ought  to  be  prevented  from  using  and  oc- 
cupying, without  paying  for  it,  as  much  land  as  he  wants 
wherever  he  finds  it  vacant;  because  there  is,  as  I  have 
already  stated,  more  highly  productive  land  than  can 
be  utilized  for  all  practical  purposes  now  and  perhaps 
for  all  future  ages.  And  further  because  when  a  person 
is  born  and  can  utilize  land  for  the  maintenance  of  his 
existence,  he  is  entitled  to  his  proportionate  share  of 
the  earth's  surface  without  paying  for  the  permission  of 
living  on  earth. 

"By  experience,  personal  and  ancestral,  which 
always  constitutes  the  entire  stock  of  intelligence,  we 
slowly  learned  that  the  monopolization  of  vacant  land 
is  doubtless  the  principal  cause  of  a  vicious,  social  and 
industrial  system,  i.  Because  it  produces  an  army 
of  forced  idlers  who  are  prevented  by  the  landlord 
from  applying  their  labor  to  land  from  which  all 
wealth  proceeds,  and  toward  which  all  industry  must 
be  directed.  2.  It  practically  forces  the  laborer  to 
accept  the  landlord's  offer  whatever  it  may  be.     And 


236  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM, 

3.  It  affords  an  army  of  rent-takers  who  are  enabled  to 
live  an  idle  life  by  appropriating  the  earnings  of  the 
laborers.  Hence  nearly  all  other  social  and  industrial 
evils  may  be  traced  directly  or  indirectly  to  the  monop- 
olization of  vacant  land. 

"In  our  system  vacant  land  is  perfectly  free  to  any 
one  who  wants  to  utilize  it;  no  one  pays  for  living  on 
Mars,  and  there  is,  notwithstanding  the  dense  popula- 
tion, more  land  than  all  the  inhabitants  can  utilize,  the 
same  as  here  if  vacant  land  was  free.  With  us  no  one 
can,  or  desires  to  monopolize  land,  and  therefore  no 
one  pays  rent.  We  have,  by  the  economic  arrange- 
ment of  freeing  vacant  land,  completely  eliminated 
rent.  We  have  then,  as  far  as  I  have  explained  our  so- 
cial and  industrial  system  to  you,  neither  profit,  interest, 
nor  re7it." 

"Would  you,  then,  take  the  land  away  from  the  land- 
lord and  give  it  to  others,  perhaps  to  some  who  have 
always  lived  an  idle  life?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"I  would  by  no  means  do  any  forcible  or  legal  tak- 
ing or  giving  as  you  call  it.  Vacant  land  will  never 
become  free  by  physical  force  or  by  statute  law.  It 
will  be  monopolized  by  law  as  long  as  the  people,  both 
landlords  and  landless,  do  not  clearly  see  the  evil  of 
owning  it  by  deed.  But  just  as  soon  as  the  landless 
man  and  woman  begins  to  see  that  the  landlord  lives 
from  the  products  of  his  or  her  labor,  which  necessitates 
the  masses  to  remain  poor,  cruel,  ignorant,  and  as  soon 
as  the  landlord  clearly  sees  that  this  poverty,  cruelty 
and  ignorance  caused  by  the  monopolization  of  land 
endangers  his  life  and  property,  and  prevents  him  from 
living  in  a  world  of  refinement  in  which  all  can  be  rich, 
kind  and  intelligent,  vacant  land  will  become  free,  and 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  237 

not  before.  Just  in  proportion  as  man  will  clearly  see 
and  feel  this,  vacant  land  will  become  free,  like  the 
chattel  slave  who  was  gradually  set  free  from  the  bond- 
age of  chattel  slavery.  At  one  time  they  sold  for  more 
than  a  thousand  dollars  apiece;  now  they  are  not  worth 
15  cents  a  dozen  financially.  So  with  vacant  land. 
In  my  opinion  there  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion, 
that  the  masses  of  your  people  will  soon  see,  that  there 
is  something  very  wrong  in  owning  vacant  land,  for 
thousands  of  your  foremost  thinkers  see  it  already  more 
or  less  clearly. 

"Under  the  head  of  'How  the  transition  from  the 
old  to  the  new  order  of  things  was  accomplished,' 
I  shall  explain  how  vacant  land  on  Mars  was  set  free." 
"I  think  I  clearly  see  the  effects  of  it  now,"  said 
Mr.  Uwins.  "If  vacant  land  were  free  for  all,  the  ser- 
vants and  hired  help  would  work  land  for  themselves, 
unless  the  rich  paid  them  just  what  the  laborer  actually 
earns,  under  which  condition  the  employer  can  not 
grow  rich  from  the  labor  of  others.  Men  and  women 
can  grow  rich,  as  you  call  it,  only  by  the  monopolization 
of  land  or  some  other  natural  opportunities— by  appro- 
priating the  earnings  of  some  one  else.  I  must  confess 
your  land  system  appears  very  just  and  simple  when 
once  explained." 

'*Now  let  us  see,"  said  Mr.  Midith  as  Mr.  Uwins 
had  finished  speaking,  "if  we  can  summc^rize  the  most 
important  points  of  the  Marsian  social  and  economic 
system,  as  far  as  I  have  told  you  about  them. 

"To  begin  with,  the  Marsites,  as  I  have  explained, 
have  no  cities  and  towns.  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that,' 
m  the  lowest  stages  of  savagery,  even  among  your 
present  savages,  man  has  no  cities   and  towns  and  nq 


238  rKACTlCAL    CO-OPEKATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

particular  fixed  haoitation.  A  single  individual,  or  at 
best  a  few,  roam  together  with  no  permanent  residence; 
but  as  civilization  advances,  the  individuals  form  a 
closer  union  and  choose  a  more  permanent  place  of 
residence.  From  this  closer  association  and  co-opera- 
tion, man,  like  the  gregarious  animals,  reap  advant- 
ages and  these  advantages  continue  to  unfold  man's  so- 
cial nature;  and  in  order  to  satisfy  this  social  nature  to 
the  fullest  extent,  during  a  certain  stage  of  civilization, 
he  builds  large  cities.  At  this  city  stage  of  intellectual 
development,  he  feels  the  need  of  association  and  co- 
operation, but  he  does  not  yet  see  and  feel  the  disad- 
vantages, the  uselessness,  and  other  evils  of  cities  and 
also  of  a  lonely  country.  But  as  man's  intellectual 
powers  continue  to  unfold,  as  his  sensibilities  become 
more  acute,  and  as  he  employs  more  and  more  ma- 
chinery to  perform  his  manual  toil,  he  slowly  but 
gradually  discovers  the  evil  effects  of  dividing  the 
population  into  cities  and  country;  for  both  are  faulty, 
both  are  unhealthy,  both  are  inconvenient,  and  both  are 
useless. 

"After  man  has  discovered  this,  he  begins  to  locate 
his  large  buildings  in  beautiful  parks,  at  short  intervals, 
in  straight  lines,  on  the  perimeter  of  a  rectangular  com- 
munity. (See  p.  58.)  The  large  size  families  and 
the  nearness  of  the  buildings  satisfy  his  social  nature; 
the  arrangement  of  buildings,  in  straight  lines,  gives 
commercial  and  mechanical  advantages;  the  large  fam- 
ilies give  him  social  and  domestic  advantages  which 
greatly  conduce  to  his  health,  prosperity  and  happiness. 
'Y\\Q  for)n  and  size  of  our  communities  give  us  the  great- 
est commercial  and  agricultural  advantages.  We  all 
live  right  on  the  edge  of  the  agricultural   land  from 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  239 

which  all  wealth  must  be  produced,  either  directly  or 
indirectly.  With  us  a  farmer  need  not  come  to  town  to 
sell  his  produce,  nor  need  a  townman  go  into  the 
country  to  farm. 

"  Thus  you  see  that  some  labor  and  some  commerce 
is  managed  exclusively  by  the  individual,  such  as  keep- 
ing his  private  apartment,  buying  his  own  meals, 
clothes,  etc.  Some  by  the  family,  such  as  buying  the 
goods  for  the  family  store,  etc.  Some  by  the  com- 
munity, such  as  agriculture,  mining,  etc.  Some  by  the 
neighborhood,  such  as  railroading,  etc.  Some  in  the 
Fano  and  some  in  the  Modano.  All  is  justice,  equity, 
order,  kindness  and  harmony.  Everybody  and  every- 
thing has,  by  the  force  of  free  competition,  drifted  into 
that  for  which  each  is  best  fitted." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


GOVERNMENT. 


After  Midith  and  Viola  had  returned  from  the  post- 
office  on  their  bicycles  the  following  evening,  Mr, 
Uwins  requested  Mr.  Midith  to  give  us  the  promised 
explanation  of  the  IMarsian  government. 

"  How  does  your  government  fit  with  your  perfect 
social  and  industrial  world?"  asked  Mr.  Uwins.  "Are 
all  its  functions  in  harmony  with  all  your  industrial 
and  social  functions?  Do  or  can  the  politicians  hood- 
wink the  ignorant  ?  Are  not  the  governmental  functions 
sometimes  exercised  barbarously  at  times  by  cruel,  in- 
competent men?" 

"  I  fear  by  your  remarks  that  you  have  an  entirely 
erroneous  opinion  of  our  government,"  said  Mr.  Mid- 
ith. "  Let  us  see  now  if  I  can  give  you  a  correct  idea 
of  our  government. 

"You  have  already  learned  that  we  live  in  families 
of  a  thousand  or  more  in  'big-houses.'  Our  large  family 
is  just  like  an  orderly,  well-adjusted  family  with  you, 
only  ours  is  larger.  For  instance,  let  us  take  Mr. 
Uwins'  family  here,  as  far  as  I  can  see  has  no  superior 
and  no  inferior,  no  commander  and  no  obeycr,  no 
'boss.'  We  want  to  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  as  i)ainful, 
if  not  more  so,  for  a  highly  cultivated  person  to  com- 
mand his  companions  as  it  is  for  him  to  obey  a  tyrant. 
A  command  always  involves  a  hindrance  to  order  and 

240 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  24 1 

progress.  It  makes  the  obeyer  less  self-croverning  and 
less  self-reliant,  and  it  makes  the  com'mander  more 
tyrannical  and  more  ostentatious. 

"In  a  well-adjusted  family  every  adult  has  learned 
his  part  as  a  social  and   industrial  being,  and  he   does 
that  part  without  being  commanded;  he  does  it  because 
It  gives   him   more  happiness   than  to  act  otherwise. 
Our  children  know  of  no  physical  compulsion.     They 
are  exhorted  and  pleasantly  taught,  by  precept   and 
example,  that  the  right  course  of  conduct  is  the  easiest 
and  brings  the  most   happiness,  which  they  soon  learn 
by  experience  as  they  grow  in  years  and  in  wisdom,  in 
a  world  where  the  adults  set  no  bad  examples.     The 
old  idea  that  a  family  cannot  exist  without   a   'boss'  is 
nothing  but  a  relic  of  barbarism.     Mr.   Uwins  cannot 
command    Mrs.   Uwins   in   her  work,   for  Mrs.   Uwins 
understands  her  work  better  herself  than  her  husband 
can   tell   her,    and    vice   versa.     His    command    would 
therefore  be  a  disadvantage,  would   cause   discord,  ill- 
feeling,  and  unproductive   labor;  it  would  take  up  his 
tmie   which    ought   to   be    devoted   to  his  o^xl^  work; 
would  make  a  master  and   a  tyrant  of  the  man  and  a 
slave  of  the  woman  and  child. 

"From  the  foregoing  remarks  you  will  see  at  once 
that  every  sane  individual  man,  woman,  and  child  of  our 
large  family  enjoys  perfect  freedom.  They  do  what 
they  believe  to  be  their  equitable  part  without  being 
commanded  by  any  one.  Our  internal  motives  and 
promptings  arc  the  only  recognized  standard  of  Marsian 
conduct.  But,  in  order  to  avoid  being  misunderstood, 
let  me  tell  you  right  here,  that  we  can  certainly  not 
expect  the  same  kind  of  conduct  from  a  child,  which 
is  fun  of  life  and  activity,  that  we  do  from  an  older  per- 


242  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

son.  The  child  requires  constant,  activity  to  develop 
body  and  mind;  and  we  must  make  due  allowance  for 
that.  One  who  does  not  make  that  allowance  cannot 
be  successful  in  orderly  government. 

"We  always  construct  and  arrange  our  things  and 
institutions  to  suit  the  purpose  they  are  intended  to 
serve.  We  do  not,  like  you,  endeavor  to  make,  with 
a  rod,  a  sage  out  of  an  infant  in  a  few  days.  For  ex- 
ample, if  we  have  a  door  or  a  gate  that  we  desire  to 
have  always  closed,  when  not  in  use,  we  make  it 
self-closing.  If  we  have  a  department  in  which  little 
children  may  hurt  themselves,  or  unknowingly  destroy 
delicate  things,  we  have  a  self-closing  door  that  can- 
not be  opened  by  a  little  child. 

"We  keep  our  infants  and  little  children,  who  are 
unable  to  swim,  out  of  the  deep  lakes  in  our  parks  by 
fencing  the  lakes  with  an  impassable  fence,  and  by 
guarding  the  entrance  with  a  self-closing  and  self- 
locking  door,  which  can  be  opened  only  by  swimmers 
who  hold  a  key  for  it.  The  little  children  go  in  the 
shallow  lake.  If  we  do  not  wish  our  children  to  play 
certain  games  all  over  the  green  park,  we  fit  up  grounds 
more  suited  for  the  game,  and  they  will  always  play  on 
that  ground,  because  it  is  most  suitable  for  that  pur- 
pose. 

"If  we,  as  older  people,  do  not  find  it  delightful,  on 
account  of  our  older  and  more  inactive  age,  to  be  always 
and  immediately  surrounded  by  the  more  active  chil- 
dren, we  build  and  fit  out  nurseries'  play-grounds  and 
other  apartments  in  which  the  child-nature  can  be  best 
gratified;  and  the  children,  during  their  active  intervals, 
never  fail  to  go  there. 

"If  we  wish  to  create  self-reliance  and  a  desire  for 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  243 

laboring,  we  make  the  labor  agreeable,  by  making  it 
easy,  by  esteeming  it  honorable,  and  by  creating  a  sys- 
tem of  money  under  which  every  man,  woman  and  child 
draws  his  own  pay  at  the  end  of  each  month;  and  the 
amount  of  his  pay  is  in  proportion  to  the  time  each 
worked  or  to  the  wealth  produced.  If  we  desire  to 
educate  our  children  in  a  certain  direction,  we  first  learn 
that  lesson  ourselves,  and  from  our  practicing  it  the 
children  will  learn  it  without  any  formal  teaching. 

"To  govern  our  children  in  the  practice  of  eating, 
we  always  keep  before  them,  as  well  as  before  our- 
selves, more  than  we  want  of  everything;  consequently 
the  appetite  is  the  safest  guide,  so  that  neither  the 
child  nor  adult  ever  eats  too  much,  and  just  so  pleas- 
ant, harmonious  and  successful  is  our  governing  power 
in  all  directions. 

"  The  foreman  of  any  branch  of  industry  whether 
of  the  family,  such  as  storekeeper,  barber,  cook,  etc., 
or  whether  of  the  community,  such  as  head  agricult- 
urist, head  painter,  head  builder,  etc.,  always  elects 
himself  to  his  position  by  his  own  deeds,  by  his  su- 
perior ability  of  doing  work  in  his  occupation,  by  be- 
ing kind  and  pleasant,  by  directing  the  labor  of  his  or 
her  co-laborers  in  the  most  productive  and  agreeable 
channels.  Our  foreman  is  leader  only  just  so  far  as 
his  co-laborers  are  willing  to  acknowledge  him  as  such; 
and  when  a  person  of  greater  ability  appears  in  his 
branch  of  industry,  the  former  leader  naturally  resigns 
his  position  to  his  superior,  because  such  a  resignation 
is  agreeable  to  the  former  leader  as  well  as  to  his  co- 
laborers.  Hence  the  leader  always  does  the  most  and 
best  work  and  receives  no  more  pay  than  the  common- 
est laborer.      All  our  ofificers  are  elected,  then,  by  the 


244  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

tacit  or  avowed  ballot  of  superior  ability  and  agreea- 
bleness,  but  never  by  a /^/'^r  ballot.  Hence  you  can 
plainly  sec  that  we  acknowledge  universal  suffrage  in 
its  true  and  full  sense,  because  every  man,  woman  and 
child  is  a  voter  as  well  as  a  candidate. 

"  Some  of  our  family  leaders,  or  officers  as  you 
would  call  them,  are  foremen  in  the  following  depart- 
ments: Store,  restaurant,  kitchen,  bakery,  dining  hall, 
parlors,  engine  room,  tailor  shop,  barber  shop,  halls, 
bath-rooms,  commercial  apartment,  vehicle  apartment, 
the  departments  of  ushers,  painters,  house  cleaners, 
laundry  department,  representatives  in  the  'Com,'  Fano 
and  Modano,  etc.,  etc. 

"  Now  let  us  briefly  glance  at  the  government  of 
the  community.  The  business  of  the  community  is 
transacted  at  the  'Com,'  as  I  have  already  told  you. 
Every  family  has  one  or  more  representatives  in  the 
'Com,'  who  are  daily  laboring  there,  in  some  depart- 
ment, as  paying  bills,  making  money,  examining  labor- 
records,  printing,  receiving  money  from  the  families, 
canceling  the  community's  own  money  when  it  arrives, 
inventing,  etc. 

"The  family  representatives  who  work  at  the  'Com' 
nearly  always  return  to  their  own  family  after  the  close 
of  their  day's  work.  By  this  arrangement  every  family, 
and  every  person  in  the  family,  is  in  constant  personal 
communication  with  the  'Com.'  Any  one  v;ho  desires 
information  concerning  the  business  of  the  community 
can  get  it  orally  from  the  family  representative,  or,  he 
can  get  it  from  the  daily  community's  newspaper, 
which  contains  all  the  business  and  which  is  taken  and 
read  by  every  one  who  is  old  enough  to  read  it. 

"Some  of  the  community's  and  famil3^'s    foremen 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  245 

are  in  the  following  departments:  Printing,  money 
making,  paying,  money  receiving,  selling,  building  and 
repairing  motor  lines,  agriculture,  stock  raising,  min- 
ing, manufacturing,  warehouse,  roads  and  boulevards, 
electric  light,  parks,  conservatory  and  greenhouse, 
garden,  orchard,  inventor,  etc.,  etc. 

"The  foregoing  is  a  brief  description  of  some  of 
the  most  important  features  of  our  government,  by 
which  you  will  see  at  once  that  we  have  no  government 
by  physical  force  against  man,  woman  or  child;  that 
we  have  no  parties,  no  politicians,  no  election  frauds, 
no  political  boodle,  no  vast  armies  and  costly  navies; 
no  generals  who  lead  the  people  to  death  and  destruc- 
tion; no  guns  and  cannons;  no  swords  and  sabres;  no 
pension^  and  crippled  soldiers ;  no  impoverished 
widows  and  uncared  for  orphans;  no  burning  of  cities 
and  tearing  up  of  railroads;  no  kings,  queens,  and 
presidents;  no  political  congresses,  parliaments,  and 
legislatures;  no  crowns  and  thrones;  no  high-salaried 
ofificers,  no  national  debt  which  often  gets  larger  by 
paying  on  it;  no  compulsory  taxation;  no  tariff  invol- 
untarily wrung  from  the  people ;  no  prisons  and 
reform  schools;  no  so-called  courts  of  justice  and  an 
army  of  lawyers  and  judges  who  have  to  live  from  the 
ignorance  and  quarreling  of  the  people;  no  political 
patriotism;  no  statute  laws  which  monopolize  natural 
opportunity  in  favor  of  the  rich  and  against  the  poor; 
no  hangmen,  and  no  policemen.  Our  political  con- 
gress slowly  changed  into  an  industrial  one." 

"I  must  say  that  your  government  seems  to  be  an 
admirable  one,  if  it  could  be  enforced,''  said  Rev.  Dud- 
ley, "but  I  cannot  see  how  a  people  can  do  without  all 
those  things  you  have  just  named." 


240  I'KACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"Why,  uncle,"  said  Viola,  "it  seems  to  me  that  we 
would  be  much  better  off  without  those  relics  of  bar- 
barism than  with  them,  and  I  shall  do  all  I  can  to  ele- 
vate the  mind  of  man  high  enough  so  that  he  feels  no 
need  for  them." 

"It  is  doubtless  true,"  said  Mr.  Midith,  "that  those 
who  have  always  lived  in  a  world  where  a  certain  class 
of  people  have  always  ruled,  or  at  least  have  tried  to 
rule,  the  remainder  of  mankind  by  physical  force,  it  may 
seem  that  no  family,  community  or  nation  can  do  with- 
out a  ruler  backed  by  physical  force.  In  primitive  times 
the  force  process  begins  soon  after  birth  and  continues 
until  death.  First  the  child  is  scolded,  cuffed  and 
flogged  by  the  parent  and  nurse,  then  by  the  teacher 
and  preacher,  then  by  his  playmates  and  street-*uffians; 
when  he  wants  to  marry,  the  church  and  state  begin  to 
interfere;  the  policeman  clubs  his  victim  into  submis- 
sion, the  hangman  hangs  him,  the  tax-collector  forces 
him  to  pay  taxes,  and  finally  the  landlord  compels  him 
or  his  friends  to  pay  for  the  little  patch  of  earth  in 
which  he  is  buried.  Consequently  all  but  a  few  of 
your  foremost  thinkers  believe  that  the  ruler  and  the 
force  system  is  absolutely  necessary  to  the  welfare  of 
an  orderly  society.  But  when  we  examine  the  pages 
of  your  history,  as  well  as  our  own  ancient  history  when 
our  ancestors  practiced  the  same  despotism  as  you 
now  practice,  we  find  that  the  nilcr,  either  directly  or 
indirectly,  has  played  all  the  cruel  mischief  that  ever 
was  played  in  the  human  family. 

"The  ruler  calls  the  soldier  to  war  to  shoot  his 
neighbor.  The  ruler  instituted  the  practice  of  suttee, 
and  exhorts  the  slavish  widow  to  practice  it.  The  ruler 
induces  the  Hindoo  mother  to  throw  her  newly-born 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  247 

babe  in  the  Ganges,  by  which  the  mother  becomes  a 
ruler  over  the  child,  to  satisfy  the  ruler's  created  Deity, 
who  is  supposed  to  be  the  supreme  ruler.  The  ruler 
tortured  and  killed  every  so-called  heretic— the  cream 
of  the  mental  world,  during  the  dark  ages.  The  ruler 
kindled  every  witch  fire  that  consumed  thousands  and 
millions  of  innocent  persons  supposed  to  be  witches. 
The  ruler  did  all  the  wife  and  child  flogging.  The 
ruler  gave  all  the  unjust  decisions  that  were  ever  given 
in  any  court  of  so-called  justice.  The  ruler  made  all 
the  millions  of  laws  that  have  already  been  repealed, 
and  are  now  considered  wrong  and  cruel.  The  ruler 
had  every  national  building  and  monument  built  and 
erected  with  the  life  and  labor  of  his  ruled.  The  ruler 
is  the  author  of  every  battle.  The  ruler  has  been  the 
suppressor  of  all  liberty  and  freedom.  The  ruler  has 
drafted  every  soldier,  and  forced  him  to  burn  and  kill. 
The  ruler  has  preached  all  superstitious  doctrines, 
whether  religious,  industrial,  social,  political  or  sexual. 
The  ruler  has  grown  rich  without  productive  labor,  on 
profit,  interest,  rent,  taxes,  and  the  varying  purchasing 
power  of  the  dollar.  The  ruler  has  compelled  children 
to  attend  school  in  which  they  were  forced  to  act  in 
direct  opposition  to  the  known  laws  of  life  and  health. 
The  ruler,  whether  individual,  state  or  nation,  has  com- 
mitted every  murder.  The  ruler  is  the  author  of  every 
ravishment.  The  ruler  has  received  all  the  boodle. 
The  ruler  has  so  far,  in  your  world,  made  slaves  of 
women  and  children,  and  has  thereby  indirectly  made 
a  slave  of  himself.  The  ruler  has  committed  every 
theft,  robbery  and  burglary.  The  ruler  has,  in  many 
cases,  demanded  prayer  and  shrine  cure,  instead  of  re- 
sorting to   sanitary  measures.     The   ruler  has   caused 


248  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

every  quarrel  and  fight.  The  ruler  has,  in  countless 
cases,  commended  the  infamous  and  prohibited  the 
virtuous.  The  ruler  is  the  invader  of  all  personal  right 
and  personal  liberty.  The  ruler  has  done  all  this  and 
much  more.  He  has  caused  all  the  social  and  indus- 
trial discord.  Why,  then,  should  the  ruled  pay  the 
ruler  for  ruling  them,  after  having  made  so  many  errors 
and  committed  so  many  crimes?  What  guarantee  have 
the  ruled  now  that  the  ruler  will  not  err  in  the  present 
and  future  as  he  has  done  in  the  past?" 

"No  doubt,"  said  Rev.  Dudley,  "the  ruler,  under 
the  various  monarchical  forms,  has  done  a  great  many 
wrongs;  but  the  monarchies  of  the  world  are  fast  pass- 
ing away,  we  are  living  in  a  republic  in  which  the 
?najority.vu\ey 

"I  find  that  the  vast  majority  of  your  citizens,  like 
you,  believe  that  the  majority  rule  in  your  republic, 
as  you  call  it,  but  this  is  an  error.  The  majority  do 
not  rule,  but  only  a  small  minority  do.     To    illustrate: 

"The  population  of  the  United  States  is  about  65 
millions.  Of  these  about  13  millions  vote.  If  these 
13  million  voters  all  belonged  to  two  parties — say 
Democrats  and  Republicans — one  party  would  require 
but  one  majority  to  let  it  in  power — say  the  Republicans. 
6,500,001  is  a  majority  of  13  millions.  The  6,499,999 
Democrats  would  have  nothing  to  say  as  far  as  their 
principles  differed  from  the  principles  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  Under  these  conditions,  which  are  about  as 
we  actually  find  them,  all  the  Democrats,  all  the 
women  and  all  the  children  have  nothing  to  say  civilly. 
Now  you  want  to  remember  that  many  of  the  children, 
the  same  as  the  adults,  support  themselves.  We  see, 
then,  that  6,500,001  is  ten  per  cent,  plus  of  65  millions. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  249 

Hence  one-tenth  rules  nine-tenths.  Your  boon  of 
universal  suffrage  is  nothing  but  an  illusion  when  it  is 
analyzed. 

"  We  have  now  seen  that  the  majority  do  not  rule, 
as  is  generally  supposed  by  you.  But  if  the  majority 
instead  of  the  minority  did  rule,  the  question  would 
arise:  What  right  has  a  majority  to  rule  a  non-inva- 
sive minority?  Who  gave  them  the  right?  How  long 
have  they  had  it?  Did  your  ancestors  a  thousand  years 
ago  give  this  right  to  each  other?  If  so,  are  bargains 
that  were  made  a  thousand  years  ago  binding  on  the 
present  generation?  Must  you  be  cruel  and  unjust  to 
one  another  because  your  ancestors  were?  Does  not 
culture  make  justice  the  basis  of  human  conduct? 
But  this  is  not  all.  If  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  a  fna7i 
is  such  a  great  boon,  why  is  it  not  equally  great  in  the 
hands  of  the  zvoniciL  and  cJiildren?  Are  they  not  entitled 
to  the  same  welfare  and  happiness  that  the  man  is? 

"  And  furthermore,  I  suppose  that  all  of  you  are 
ready  to  acknowledge  that  money,  intimidation  and 
fraud  greatly  influence  the  result  of  your  ballot  elec- 
tions. The  individual  or  party  that  spends  the  most 
money  and  does  the  most  scheming  generally  triumphs 
with  yoii.  Our  acknowledged  leader  (we  have  no  polit- ' 
ical  officers)  of  any  branch  of  industry  in  our  families 
and  communities  is  elected  by  actual  universal  suffrage, 
solely  upon  his  or  her  superior  fitness  for  the  position. 

"  Let  us  notice  a  few  other  points  of  difference  be- 
tween our  government  and  yours.  Your  officials  receive, 
as  a  rule,  high  salaries,  and  as  it  is  generally  difficult 
here  for  a  person  to  acquire  wealth  by  productive 
labor,  on  account  of  monopoly,  all  are  rushing  for  the 
well-paying  offices.     With  us  the  highest  officer  in  the 


250  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

community  receives  no  more  pay  for  his  day's  labor 
than  a  washerwoman  does.  Here,  in  a  world  where 
money  is  necessary  and  scarce,  a  person  can  stoop 
to  most  anything,  if  he  thereby  gains  his  election  so 
that  he  receives  the  high  salary  and  not  unfrequently 
some  boodle;  for  in  a  world  where  money  is  necessary 
and  scarce,  a  victorious  person  can  buy  his  honor,  fa/ne, 
and  distinction  with  money.  But  in  a  world  like  ours, 
where  money  is  not  monopolized,  where  it  can  be  eas- 
ily obtained  by  every  one,  money  has  lost  the  power  of 
purchasing  honor,  fame  and  distinction.  In  such  a 
world  nothing  but  personal  worth,  fitness  and  noble 
attainments  elevate  a  person  to  a  higher  position 
where  he  enjoys  approbation  and  admiration  of  his 
fellowmen.  Notice  here  that  the  Marsites  have  removed 
the  causes  of  corruption,  while  you  are  still  endeavor- 
ing to  make  a  person  ^^w<:/  under  bad  conditions. 

"Your  government,  as  now  constituted,  also  tends 
to  concentrate  wealth.  Rev.  Joseph  Cook,  inTremont 
Temple,  Boston,  Feb.  3,  iSgo,  said:  'Two  thousand 
capitalists  own  more  than  all  the  rest  of  the  sixty-five 
millions  of  our  population.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  rich  men  control  seventy-five  per  cent,  of  the 
pational  wealth.  The  American  republic  is,  therefore, 
practically  owned  by  less  than  one-quarter  of  a  million 
of  persons.  If  present  causes  which  produce  concen- 
tration of  capital  continue,  the  republic  will  soon  be 
owned  by  less  than  fifty  thousand  men.' 

"We  all  know,  then,  that  some  have  amassed  im- 
mense fortunes  of  material  wealth,  while  the  vast 
majority  under  your  present  conditions  are  doomed  to 
life-long  toil,  to  poverty.  But,  by  what  means  or  power 
did  these  rich  men  accumulate  their  immense  wealth? 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  25 1 

Not  by  personal  industry,  for  the  industrial  powers  of 
an  individual  are  too  limited.  Not  by  economy,  for  if 
he  had  saved  everything  he  ever  earned,  he  would  have 
but  a  small  fractional  part  of  what  he  has  accumulated. 
Not  by  any  particular  personal  superiority,  for  the  per- 
sonal powers  to  produce  material  wealth  are  nearly 
equal  in  all  sound  men  and  women;  but  he  accumulated 
and  appropriated  it  by  monopoly.  You  have  enacted 
many  laws  by  your  much  prized  ballot,  and  these  rich 
men  used  those  laws  to  monopolize  natural  opportu- 
nity so  that  they  are  continually  growing  richer  on 
hiterest,  profit,  rejit  and  taxes,  without  productive  labor. 
You  see  if  all  monopolistic  statute  laws,  which  include 
nearly  all  statute  laws  as  such,  were  repealed  and  dis- 
regarded, all  would  stand  equal  before  natural  oppor- 
tunity. Profit,  interest,  rent  and  taxes  are  produced  by 
monopolistic  laws.  If  there  were  no  monopolistic  laws, 
no  person  could  accumulate  or  appropriate  wealth  with- 
out productive  labor. 

"Let  us  take  an  illustration:  You  have  a  few  men 
that  have  over  a  $100,000,000  of  wealth  as  you  call  it. 
You  can  figure  up  in  a  few  minutes  that  they  can  not 
have  earned  or  produced  ihdii  amount  of  wealth  in  one  or 
even  in  two  generations.  But  some  of  these  men  have 
accumulated  this  immense  fortune  in  twenty  or  thirty 
years.  Let  us  figure  a  little  on  this.  Suppose  that  a 
man  has  accumulated  $100,000,000  in  fifty  years  of 
three  hundred  working  days  each.  This  would  require 
an  average  accumulation  of  nearly  $7,000  for  every 
working  day.  Now  you  all  know  that  a  man  cannot, 
by  any  human  power,  earn  or  produce  $7,000  worth  of 
wealth— wheat,  corn,  coal,  books,  houses,  clothing,  or 
whatever  else  it  may  be.     But  we  know  that  he  has  the 


252  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

wealth,  or  your  representative  of  wealth — the  dollar; 
and  if  he  has  not  eartied  it  himself  by  productive  labor, 
by  which  all  wealth  must  be  produced,  he  must  have 
appropriated  it  from  the  labor  of  others  in  the  form  of 
profit,  interest,  rent  or  taxes,  for  which  the  receiver 
docs  nothing   and  for  which  the  giver  receives  nothing. 

"  Our  government  has  no  statute  laws  and  has, 
therefore,  no  profit,  interest,  rent  and  taxes.  Your 
government  monopolizes  land  by  the  deed  system, 
hence  your  re?it.  Our  government  has  nothing  to  do 
with  the  ownership  of  land;  every  one  may  occupy  and 
use  all  the  vacant  land  he  wants.  Your  government 
monopolizes  the  making  of  money,  which  makes 
money  scarce,  hence  your  mtercst ;  in  our  government, 
each  individual  gets  his  money  made  at  the  end  of  each 
month,  and  as  much  as  he  has  produced  wealth;  money 
is  plenty,  and  hence  no  interest.  Your  government 
enforces  compulsory  taxation,  whether  the  individual 
wants  it  or  not;  we  have  no  compulsory  taxation. 
From  the  foregoing  and  other  monopolizations  your 
profit  results.  Your  government  has  enacted  laws  for 
the  collection  of  debts,  hence  your  many  failures  and 
unpaid  accounts.  Our  government  has  no  need  of  such 
laws,  because  we  have  always  plenty  of  money  and, 
therefore,  always  pay  cash.  Your  government  endeav- 
ors to  enforce  its  mandates  by  an  external  agency  of 
soldier  and  policeman,  while  our  governmental  force 
resides  in  the  internal  promptings  of  the  individual. 
The  desire  of  the  non-invasive  individual  is  the  high- 
est authority  on  Mars. 

"Of  course  we  all  understand  that  your  government, 
as  a  whole,  is  better  now  than  it  ever  was  before.  The 
government  of  the  United  States,  in  many   respects,  is 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  253 

perhaps  better  than  any  of  its  predecessors  or  any  of  its 
contemporaries.  But  you  must  remember  that  all  ages 
had  a  best  government.  The  question  is  not  whether  it 
is  the  best  that  ever  was,  but  whether  it  is  faultless.  Best 
is  not  good  enough  unless  it  is  faultless.  Can  we  find 
any  faults?     If  so,  we  should  labor  to  remove  them. 

"I  do  not  desire  to  have  you  understand  me  that  I 
blame  your  government  or  your  rich  men  for  what  they 
have  done,  or  for  what  they  are  now  doing.  Under  the 
same  conditions  the  Marsites  did  the  same  things.  With 
the  present  amount  of  intelligence,  human  conduct,  in 
your  world,  is  just  about  what  it  should  be;  and  the  only 
force  in  the  universe  that  can  ever  change  that  course 
is  additional  intelligence.  All  your  labor  for  advance- 
ment, then,  should  be  most  economically  directed  in 
the  diffusion  and  assimilation  of  this  additional  intelli- 
gence. As  long  as  a  person  is  ignorant  enough,  he  does 
not  feel  the  burden  unjustly  imposed  upon  him  by 
others;  but  as  he  grows  in  intelligence,  the  bearer  of 
the  burden  becomes  continually  more  sensitive  to  its 
weight,  and  the  imposition  becomes  continually  more 
repugnant  to  the  imposer.  Let  us  remeriiber,  then,  that 
all  wrong  and  injustice  arise  from  ignorance.  Intelli- 
gence is  the  only  motive  power  that  can  move  the 
physical  world  to  higher  and  nobler  planes." 

"Do  you  have  insane  asylums,  Mr.  Midith?"  asked 
Mrs.  Uwins. 

Mr.  Midith  smiled  and  said:  "We  have  no  use  for 
them.  Insanity,  like  everything  else,  is  produced  by 
causes,  and  when  the  causes  are  removed  the  effects 
disappear  proportionately.  We  have  almost  com- 
pletely removed  the  causes  of  insanity.  In  the  first 
place  our  medical  science  is  far  in  advance  of  yours, 


254  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

and  in  the  second  place,  in  a  world  where  everybody 
is  rich,  sound,  intelligent  and  free,  insanity,  like  crime, 
is  almost  unknown.  Not  one  in  a  thousand  million 
ever  feels  any  traces  of  it;  and  if  he  should  he  would 
almost  certainly  be  cured  in  a  short  time.  Should 
there  be  an  isolated  case  of  insanity,  the  insane  person 
would  be  gently  cared  for  the  same  as  a  child. 

"Now  let  me  show  you  one  other  great  advantage 
of  our  government  over  yours.  You  have  one  Con- 
gress and  one  President  in  a  country,  who  make  laws 
by  which  you  endeavor  to  govern  the  white  man  and 
the  black  man;  the  agriculturist  in  the  North  and  the 
agriculturist  in  the  South;  the  miner  and  the  manu- 
facturer. But  their  interests  are  in*  many  cases  very 
unlike,  still  all  must  be  governed  by  the  same  national 
laws.  Your  government  is  so  extensive  that  the  Presi- 
dent or  Congress  cannot  be  so  well  informed  on  the 
needs  of  the  people  of  every  locality,  as  we  can  be  on 
the  needs  of  our  own  community.  The  needs  and 
interests  of  a  community  in  the  North,  on  account  of 
climate,  are  very  unlike  those  of  the  South.  So  each 
community  with  us  attends  to  its  own  business,  and  lets 
ev^ery  other  community  attend  to  theirs.  We  have  no 
interference,  no  antagonism.  We  believe  in  non-ag- 
gressive competition.  In  this  manner,  a  sharp,  healthy, 
commercial  competition  springs  up  between  the  com- 
munities, which  naturally  throws  every  community  in 
that  line  of  industry  for  which  it  is  best  adapted  on 
account  of  climate,  soil,  and  other  natural  resources. 

"Now  let  us  contemplate  for  a  moment  how  vastly 
we  economize  and  produce  .by  our  kind,  peaceable 
government  of  the  indix'idual,  and  what  an  immense 
amount  of  unproductive  and  destructive  labor  you  ex- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  255 

pend  in  the  maintenance  of  your  cruel,   criminal   gov- 
ernment of  force  as  it  would  appear  to  the  Marsites. 

"You  build  and  maintain  costly  statehouses  and 
spacious  legislative  halls.  You  have  a  vast  army  of 
national,  state  and  municipal  politicians  who  are  sup- 
ported by  the  productive  laborer.  You  have  an  army 
and  a  navy  to  equip  and  maintain.  You  have  guns  and 
cannons  to  mine  and  manufacture,  arsenals  to  build, 
and  fortifications  to  construct.  You  have  ammunition 
and  soldiers'  clothes  to  manufacture.  You  have  vast 
libraries  to  build,  filled  with  countless  volumes  of  law 
books,  over  the  contents  of  which  a  large  army  of 
judges  and  lawyers  wrangle  and  sometimes  even  fight. 
You  have  an  endless  "number  of  courthouses  to  build 
and  maintain,  and  a  swarm  of  policemen  to  uniform 
and  support.  You  have  the  country  dotted  with  pris- 
ons, jails,  penitentiaries,  scaffolds,  poorhouses,  asylums 
and  reform  schools. 

"Your  armies  and  navies  in  time  of  war  destroy  an 
immense  amount  of  wealth  by  burning  cities  and  fam- 
ily houses,  by  destroying  the  growing  crops  in  the 
fields  through  which  they  march,  and  in  which  they 
fight,  by  blowing  up  ships  and  bridges,  by  tearing  up 
railroads,  by  cutting  down  fences,  orchards  and  forests, 
by  killing  the  brute  animals  which  come  in  the  line  of 
their  march,  and  by  maiming  human  bodies  and  taking 
human  life  itself.  Your  government  in  time  of  war 
makes  sound  men  diseased  and  crippled;  it  makes 
mothers  helpless  widows,  and  children  poor  orphans, 
and  then  it  forcibly  taxes  the  sound  ones  who  live  a 
generation  later  to  pension  the  cripples  it  made  itself. 
'"Besides  the  crime  of  class  legislation,  which  pro- 
duces an  aristocracy  of  social  parasites  who  appropri- 


256  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

ate  the  products  of  the  laborer  in  the  forms  of  profit, 
interest,  rent  and  taxes,  your  government  is  guilty  of 
graver  and  more  direct  crimes,  a  few  of  which  I  shall 
name.  Under  the  cloak  of  capital  punishment,  it 
legally  murders  its  so-called  criminals  on  the  pretext 
of  protecting  society.  In  the  field  of  intemperance, 
it  licenses  the  manufacturing  and  selling  of  intoxicat- 
ing liquor,  thereby  indirectly  sanctioning,  for  a  consid- 
eration, the  evil  of  intemperance.  In  the  licentious 
world,  it  actually  sells  to  certain  fallen  women  the 
privilege  of  selling  their  own  persons  for  lewd  pur- 
poses, thereby  becoming  a  participant  in  the  crime  of 
impurity,  which  is  caused  directly  or  indirectly  by  the 
government's  own  monopoly.  B'y  its  marriage  inter- 
ference, it  often  compels  married  men  and  women  to 
live  together  when  they  do  not  love  each  other,  when 
they  quarrel  and  fight.  As  a  self-righteous  censor  of 
its  so-called  morality,  it  has  in  all  ages,  countries  and 
climes  tried  to  suppress  freedom  of  speech  and  free- 
dom of  the  press.  The  foregoing  are  only  a  few  of  the 
countless  number  of  evils,  wrongs  and  cruelties  which 
a  government,  by  physical  force,  imposes  on  its  own 
people.  I  mean  which  the  rulers  impose  on  the  ruled. 
"What  a  vast  contrast!  Our  family  representatives, 
who  go  daily  to  the  'Com'  to  work,  are  all  engaged  in 
productive  labor,  and  the  person,  man  or  woman,  who 
can  add  the  greatest  number  of  columns  quickest  and 
surest  is  the  person  who  goes  there  for  that  purpose. 
The  national  and  world  representatives  do  the  same. 
No  strife,  no  monopoly,  but  complete  individual  free- 
dom, which  has  eliminated  every  vestige  of  govern- 
ment by  physical  force  against  all  non-invasive  per- 
sons, and  has  established  the  highest  social  harmony." 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  257 

"  But  if  you  do  not  elect  your  officers  by  paper 
ballot,  how  do  you  determine  who  shall  be  your 
Fanoers  and  your  Modanoers?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"I  have  already  stated,  Mr.  Dudley,"  replied  Mr. 
Midith,  "that  we  have  no  officers  in  your  sense  of  the 
word.  We  elect  a  Fanoer  and  a  Modanoer  on  exactly 
the  same  principle  and  by  exactly  the  same  process  as 
a  cultivated,  orderly  family  here  on  earth  elects  its 
members  to  do  each  a  certain  portion  of  its  work. 
That  is,  if  you  call  such  a  mutual  choice  or  assignment 
of  work  an  election.  Our  election,  then,  is  altogether 
by  mutual  consent.  The  process  is  the  same  as  the 
process  by  which  Mrs.  Uwins  is  elected  by  Uwins' 
family  to  do  a  certain  part  of  their  domestic  work.  By 
the  same  process  by  which  Mr.  Uwins  is  elected  to  do 
most  of  the  scientific  writing  of  the  family.  Once 
more,  by  the  same  process  by  which  Viola  is  elected  to 
do  the  parlor  work,  etc.  Always  by  mutual  consent 
based  on  fitness. 

"Thus  you  see,  if  you  call  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Uwins  and 
the  other  members  cf  Mr.  Uwins'  family  officers  be- 
cause each  performs  a  certain  portion  of  the  aggregate 
family  labor,  then  our  Fanoers  and  Modanoers  are 
officers;  but  if  you  do  not  call  your  members  of  a 
family  officers  because  a  certain  kind  of  work  is  volun- 
tarily performed  by  them,  or  mutually  and  often  tacitly 
assigned  to  them  on  account  of  their  peculiar  fitness, 
then  our  Fanoers  and  Modanoers  are  similarly  elected 
to  their  respective  work  by  a  large  family,  the  same  as 
you  elect  by  a  small  family.  In  a  state  of  culture  we 
can  generally  judge  ourselves  and  others  quite  accu- 
rately.    You    see    the   secret   of   our  election,    under 

17 


258  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

freedom,  consists  in  this:  A  laborer  is  nearly  always 
projficient  in  that  vocation  which  he  likes  best. 

"Of  course  the  harmony  of  this  election  in  our  com- 
munities, the  same  as  that  of  your  families,  depends  on 
the  state  of  culture  of  its  members.  In  some  of  your 
families  one  will  not  do  his  fair  share  of  the  aggregate 
work  without  he  is  ordered  or  driven  to  do  it.  But  I 
am  not  here  speaking  of  such  of  your  families.  I  am 
speaking  only  of  the  cultured  families  in  which  each 
member  finds  delight  in  doing  his  part  so  as  to  make 
it  easy  and  pleasant  for  all.  Thus  you  see  that  some 
of  your  families  are  able  to  do  what  some  of  them  are 
yet  unable  to  do. 

"It  is  certainly  true  that  our  families  and  com- 
munities were  not  always  as  peaceable,  just  and  har- 
monious as  they  are  at  present.  We,  like  you,  passed 
•  through  all  the  stages  of  progress  from  a  savage  to 
that  state  of  culture  which  we  now  enjoy.  Hence  you 
see  that  our  elections  have  not  always  been  as  har- 
monious as  they  are  at  present.  Neither  have  your 
family  elections  ever  before  been  as  high  as  they  now 
are." 

"I  can  see  plainly  how  a  few  persons,  having  a  com- 
mon interest  in  each  other's  labor  and  conduct,  like  our 
.s///^z// families,  can  have  each  individual  glide  into  his 
most  proficient  sphere  of  labor  without  much  friction," 
said  Rev.  Dudley,  "but  I  cannot  see  how  so  many  indi- 
viduals as  compose  your  large  families  and  communi- 
ties can  do  so." 

"I  will  tell  you,  Rev.  Dudley;  it  certainly  requires 
a  certain  state  of  culture  before  we  can  mentally  as- 
similate the  essential  material  for  a  thought  of  a  given 
degree  of  complexity  and  range.     An  individual  of  a 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  259 

little  horde  of  savages  would  no  doubt  be  unable  to 
see  how  so  many  individuals  as  compose  the  United 
States  could  all  live  under  one  flag  as  you  call  it;  and 
that  almost  without  war,  too.  But  we  all  know  that  it 
is  done,  and  it  does  not  seem  impossible  to  us  either; 
and  if  progress  continues  in  the  future  as  it  did  in  the 
past,  your  posterity  will  be  able  to  see  things  that  are 
entirely  hidden  from  your  present  view. 

"  You  see  those  acts  which  will  conduce  to  the  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  man  will  continually  more  and 
more  commend  themselves  to  the  thoughtful  consid- 
eration of  humanity;  they  will  be  gradually  accepted 
for  their  intrinsic  worth." 

"  If  I  understand  you  correctly,  then,"  said  Rev. 
Dudley,  "  you  have  no  compulsory  taxation,  but  only 
voluntary  taxation." 

"  No,"  replied  Mr.  Midith,  "  we  have  no  compul- 
sory taxation.  No  Marsite  is  forced  to  support  any 
institution  he  does  not  wish  to  support.  As  to  volun- 
tary taxation,  I  may  say,  if  you  wish  to  call  those 
gifts  which  visitors  to  the  Fanos  and  Modano  usually 
give  voluntary  taxation,  then  we  have  a  kind  of  vol- 
untary taxation;  but  if  you  do  not  call  that  taxation, 
we  have  no  taxation  at  all. 

"Just  as  your  former  baronage  was  gradiially  super- 
seded by  your  national  militancy — the  compulsory 
state — so  was  our  militancy  superseded  by  industrial- 
ism—our voluntary  state,  if  you  wish  to  call  it  so.  Our 
Comers,  Fanoers  and  Modanoers  are  no  generals,  no 
lawmakers,  no  statesmen  and  no  politicians.  They  are 
solely  business  men.  They  aid  in  the  advantageous 
distribution  of  wealth  and  live  from  the  fruits  of  their 


260  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

own  productive  labor.  Hence,  we  need  no  taxes  for 
their  support." 

"  But  do  you  think,  Mr.  Midith,  that  we  could  do 
away  with  compulsory  taxation  without  any  bad  effects 
of  it  at  our  present  age?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"  I  fear  that  you  do  not  fully  comprehend  this  sub- 
ject," replied  Mr.  Midith.  "You  see  you  can  not  pos- 
sibly do  away  with  compulsory  taxation.  It  is  always 
a  concomitant  of  a  certain  mental  condition,  and  the 
element  of  compulsory  taxation  can  be  weakened  only 
in  proportion  as  the  mental  condition  is  strengthened 
by  the  discovery  of  new  truths;  and  the  discovery  of 
new  truths  implies  time.  Therefore  it  is  as  impossible 
for  you  to  do  away  with  compulsory  taxation  instanta- 
neously as  it  is  for  you  to  produce  instantaneously  a 
ripe  apple  from  an  unfolding  blossom.  There  is  only 
one  known  agency  which  can  do  away  with  compul- 
sory taxation,  and  that  agency  is  the  acquisition  of  a 
higher  and  broader  intelligence." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


SEX    RELATIONS. 


"Mr.  Midith,  will  you  please  give  us  an  account  of 
your  relations  between  parent  and  child,  and  between 
husband  and  wife?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins  as  the  whole 
family,  including  Rev.  Dudley,  were  seated  in  the  cool, 
refreshing  shade  on  the  following  Sunday  afternoon. 
"We  are  not  quite  able  to  settle  those  questions  to  our 
satisfaction." 

"Certainly,"  gaid  Mr.  Midith,  "with  the  greatest  of 
pleasure. 

"But  allow  me  to  tell  you  before  I  begin  this  subject, 
that  I  am  well  aware  that  I  am  here  treading  on 
treacherous  ground.  My  tdi  years'  mundane  experience 
and  observation  convince  me  that  of  all  the  superstitions 
there  is  none  so  wide-spread,  none  so  deeply  rooted  in 
the  minds  of  the  masses  of  your  people,  as  the  sex  su- 
perstition. It  is  more  barbarously  cruel,  more  blindly 
superstitious,  more  grossly  prejudicial,  and  more  in- 
tensely jealous  than  any  other  superstition  on  earth, 
whether  it  be  religious,  political,  social  or  industrial. 
The  masses  of  your  people  seem  to  hug  with  the  same 
fondness  the  sex  superstition,  as  the  contemporaries  of 
the  inquisition  hugged  that  'Holy  Institution;'  and,  no 
doubt,  the  vast  majority  of  your  men  and  women  believe 
as  sincerely  that  your  present  sexual  slavery  is  as  es- 
sential to  social  harmony  as  the  contemporaries  of  the 

2G1 


262  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

inquisition  and  of  the  institution  of  chattel  slavery  be- 
lieved those  institutions  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
highest  social  welfare. 

"You  have  asked  me  to  give  you  the  Marsian  view 
of  these  relations,  and  I  shall  be  very  much  pleased  to 
do  so;  for,  in  our  opinion,  there  is  no  subject  of  human 
inquiry  of  which  a  thorough  knowledge  and  a  right 
adjustment  conduces  more  to  our  health,  to  our  well-be- 
ing, and  therefore  to  our  general  happiness  than  the  sub- 
ject of  sex  relations.  It  often  seems  to  me  that  your 
parents  here  endeavor  to  make  ignorance  the  safe- 
guard of  their  children's  virtue  and  chastity.  As  a 
rule,  neither  the  relation  of  parent  and  child  nor  the 
sex  relations  are  ever  openly  and  honestly  discussed  in 
the  presence  of  the  whole  family;  and  when  children  ar- 
rive at  the  age  of  puberty,  they  know  nothing  about  the 
evils  resulting  from  sexual  abuse,  and  in  a  state  of  igno- 
rance, the  child  is  apt  to  follow  the  promptings  of  its 
passions  whether  they  are  normal  or  still  abnormal. 

"All  parents  seem  to  teach  their  offspring,  as  early 
as  possible,  the  danger  of  a  hot  stove,  a  sharp  knife, 
the  evil  of  intemperance,  the  bite  of  a  poisonous 
serpent;  but  the  evils  of  sexual  licentiousness,  result- 
ing from  an  inadequate  knowledge  of  the  sex  relations, 
is,  as  a  rule,  not  only  not  taught  hy  yo//r  parents,  but  it 
is  actually  suppressed  by  a  false,  fashionable  standard 
of  modesty.  A  knowledge  of  the  evil  consequences  of 
an  act  is  the  deterrent  that  must  keep  us  from  doing 
that  evil  act.  As  long  as  we  know  no  evil  conse- 
quences resulting  from  the  act  of  placing  our  hand 
against  a  hot  stove,  we  are  as  likely  to  place  it  against 
the  hot  stove  as  into  a  glove.  Our  faculty  of  inquis- 
itiveness  may  prompt  us  to  reach   out   our  hand    in    a 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  263 

state  of  ignorance,  to  examine  a  cherry  red  stove,  but 
our  knowledge  of  the  painful  consequences  resulting 
from  such  an  act  deters  us  from  it.  We  should  learn 
the  truth  about  all  things,  including  the  sex  relation, 
and  the  sooner  the  better.  We  are  never  too  young  to 
learn. 

"The  sexual  function  is  perhaps  as  deeply  grafted 
into  our  nature  as  any  other  function.  An  improper 
adjustment  of  this  function  entails  an  immense  amount 
of  physical  and  mental  injury." 

"That  is  what  we  believe,"  said  Mrs  Uwins.  "The 
question  of  sex  relations  is  as  openly  discussed  in  our 
family  as  any  other  question  of  information.  Our 
children  are  nearly  as  well  informed  on  those  questions 
and  functions,  their  use  and  abuse,  as  we  are." 

"No,  Mr.  Midith,  you  need  not  feel  backward  about 
giving  us  the  true  and  full  explanation  of  your  sex 
relation  in  the  presence  of  our  family,"  said  Mr. 
Uwins.  "We  keep  the  most  complete  and  best  illus- 
trated physiologies  in  the  most  conspicuous  place  of 
our  library.     We  all  study  them." 

"I  am  pleased  to  hear  that  you  are  as  eager  to  learn 
on  these  subjects  as  you  are  on  others,"  continued  Mr. 
Midith.  "We  should  undoubtedly  understand  our- 
selves as  well  as  possible  in  all  particulars.  Our  whole 
aim  on  this  subject,  as  well  as  on  all  others,  should  be 
to  make  individual  intelligence  the  safeguard  of  life, 
health  and  happiness. 

"  From  what  I  have  told  you  already  of  our  social 
and  industrial  system,  you  can  clearly  see  that  no  able- 
bodied  Marsitc,  whether  man  or  woman,  is  dependent 
for  material  subsistence  on  any  other  individual. 
Every  individual  of  the  family,  man  and  woman,  keeps 


^04  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    IN^IVlDUALlS^V. 

a  time-record  of  the  labor  performed,  as  we  have  seeft 
before,  and  receives  equal  compensation  for  a  day  of 
it,  whether  the  work  is  mining  iron,  running  an  engine 
or  bearing  and  nursing  children.  You  see  we  have  be- 
come humane  enough  to  recognize  the  bearing  and 
nursing  of  offspring  s.s  productive  labor.  This  arrange- 
ment makes  every  individual  free  and  independent  of 
one  another  in  the  social  and  industrial  world,  and  we 
believe  that  every  one,  male  and  female,  should  like- 
wise enjoy  the  same  freedom  and  independence  to  reg- 
ulate his  or  her  own  sexual  affairs  at  all  times  without 
any  interference  of  any  other  individual,  family,  com- 
munity, church,  state  or  nation. 

"The  Marsian  idea  and  practice  of  sex  relations  is, 
that  whenever,  in  due  time  the  maternal  instinct  of  pro- 
creation prompts  a  woman  to  become  a  mother,  she  has 
the  full  privilege  of  soliciting  the  love  of  any  man 
whose  propagative  association  she  desires  for  that  pur- 
pose. This  privilege,  you  see,  throws  the  full  control  of 
motherhood  in  the  hands  of  the  women.  The  man  sex- 
ually co-operates  only  when  his  assistance  is  agreeably 
solicited  or  accepted.  The  Marsites  can,  therefore, 
have  no  unwelcome  motherhood  imposed  on  the  woman 
by  the  man. 

"I  have  already  told  you  that  each  individual,  man, 
woman  and  child,  has  a  private  apartment  in  which  each 
can  live  all  alone,  or  invite  as  many  companions  as  he, 
she  or  it  may  want  or  can  get;  but  no  one  ever  enters  a 
private  apartment  of  another  for  any  social  purposes 
without  being  invited  by  the  inmate.  Of  course  the 
arrangement  of  this  invitation  is  left  altogether  with  the 
individual.  The  woman  invites  her  companions,  both 
man  and  woman,  if  she  so  desires;  the  man  does  like- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  265 

wise.  If  the  guest  does  not  desire  to  accept  the  invita- 
tion, he  or  she  remains  away.  All  are  as  much  at  liberty 
to  remain  away  as  to  respond  to  the  invitation.  But, 
as  said  before,  no  one  calls  on  another  in  his  or  her 
private  apartment  without  being  invited.  Hence,  no 
one  is  bored  with  visitors,  suitors  or  sweethearts  whose 
company  is  not  agreeable,  or  at  such  times  when  he  or 
she  prefers  to  be  alone. 

"  From  the  foregoing  explanation  you  can  readily 
see  that  we  have  fathers,  but  no  husbands;  mothers, 
but  no  wives.  No  woman  gives  herself  away  to  a  man 
for  any  defrnite  length  of  time;  and  no  man  gives  him- 
self to  any  woman  for  a  definite  length  of  time.  Con- 
sequently, we  have  no  marriages  for  life,  as  you  have. 
We  believe  that  both  sexes  should  be  completely  free 
of  each  other  at  all  times.  We  believe  that  no  one 
should  have  any  claim  on  another,  whether  male  or 
female,  further  than  the  mutual  solicitation  of  the  par- 
ties from  time  to  time  desire  to  elicit.  We  believe  that 
a  woman,  in  order  to  live  the  purest  life,  must  be  free; 
must  enjoy  the  full  privilege  of  soliciting  the  love  of 
any  man,  or  of  no)ie,  if  she  so  desires.  She  must  be  free 
and  independent,  socially,  industrially  and  sexually. 

"We  believe  that  bearing  and  rearing  offspring  con- 
stitutes a  large  portion  of  the  productive  labor  of  a 
well-adjusted  society,  and  that  mothers  who  do  that 
should  receive  the  same  compensation  for  it  as  is  paid 
for  any  other  labor.  Savages  put  nearly  all  the  pro- 
ductive labor  off  unto  their  women,  and  yet  the  men, 
as  a  rule,  think  that  they  are  doing  nearly  all  the  work 
which  is  worth  doing.  So  what  you  call  civilized  man 
for  long  ages,  shifts  the  burden  of  bearing  and  nursing 
offspring  off  unto  their  women  as  though  it  were  little 


266  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

or  no  labor.  And,  in  order  to  accomplish  his  purpose 
more  effectually,  the  man  first  throws  the  woman  in  a 
sphere  of  industrial  and  social  dependence  by  his 
superior  physical  strength,  and  then  makes  a  contract 
with  her,  which  is  binding  for  life,  by  marrying  her, 
perhaps,  when  she  is  young  and  inexperienced.  No 
amount  of  after-knowledge,  according  to  your  opinion, 
enables  her  to  retract  her  former  steps   on  this  point. 

"With  us,  a  woman  who  is  about  to  become  a  mother 
receives  the  same  pay  for  bearing  the  offspring  as  an 
engineer  receives  for  running  an  engine;  and  a  mother 
who  nurses  her  infant  receives  like  pay  for  that  work 
alone.  If  she  desires  to  do  more,  she  is  at  liberty;  if  not, 
it  is  well  also;  she  is  the  judge.  Besides  this,  we  be- 
lieve that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man,  young  and  old, 
as  well  as  of  every  woman  who  is  not  a  mother,  to  give 
all  the  general  assistance  possible  to  mothers,  in  the 
labor  of  nursing  children.  This  labor  of  nursing  and 
tending  children  is  looked  upon  as  belonging  to  all  of 
us.  It  has  become  pleasant,  sportive  exercise.  And 
even  if  it  were  not  so,  a  man  who  would  be  unwilling 
to  do  his  fair  share  of  it,  would  very  likely  not  leave 
many  descendants,  for  a  woman,  when  once  free,  is  not 
likely  to  co-operate  with  a  shirk. 

"A  woman  who  is  about  to  become  a  mother,  as 
well  as  one  who  is  a  nursing  mother,  occupies  a  double 
or  triple  room.  One  of  these  two  or  three  rooms  maybe 
occupied  by  a  companion  or  nurse,  man  or  woman,  who 
administers  to  the  wants  of  the  occupant,  both  before 
and  after  she  has  become  a  mother;  and  when  the 
child  is  old  enough — which  is  at  a  very  young  age — it 
occupies  one  of  the  apartments  itself. 

"Now   let   me  tell   you   about  the  child's  financial 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  267 

conditions.  I  told  you  that  no  one  can  buy  without 
money;  and  from  what  has  been  said  of  our  social  and 
industrial  system  you  can,  no  doubt,  easily  anticipate 
that  we  are  not  cruel  and  barbarous  enough  to  let  the 
mother  alone  defray  the  expense  of  her  child  from  her 
individual  earnings.  We  know  that  in  order  to  propa- 
gate the  human  species  and  perpetuate  our  community, 
rearing  offspring  is  one  of  our  inevitable  obligations 
as  you  call  it,  a  service  which  our  parents  rendered  to 
us,  and  which  we  in  turn  must  render  to  our  children. 
For  these  reasons  and  for  the  pleasure  we  receive  from 
it,  we  are  all  willing  and  ready  to  render  our  share  of 
such  services,  which  we  do  partly  by  issuing  money 
to  the  child. 

"At  any  time  before  the  child's  birth,  at  the  discre- 
tion of  the  mother,  she  selects  for  her  pre-natal  child  a 
new  time-book,  with  its  proper  number  and  shelf  divis- 
ion, in  which  she  makes  the  proper  entries  for  '100 
days,'  which  have  the  purchasing  power  of  over  a 
;Si,000;  a  fac-simile  of  this  entry  is  sent  to  the  mint, 
the  same  as  of  labor-reports.  The  minter  stamps  the 
money  and  sends  it  to  the  going-to-be  mother.  This 
money  we  call  cliild-moncy  and  is  always  green  in  color, 
differing  in  color  from  all  labor-money.  With  this 
child-money  the  mother  pays  all  the  child's  expenses; 
doctors,  nurses,  clothing,  etc.  Whenever  this  '100 
days'  draw  is  gone  and  more  is  needed,  the  mother 
makes  another  draw,  and  whatever  is  left  is  saved  by 
the  child  for  future  emergencies.  We  make  a  practice 
of  not  letting  the  child  handle  green  money  for  itself, 
but  inducing  it,  as  early  as  possible,  to  cam  its  own 
money,  which  it  handles  and  spends  just  as  it   pleases. 


268  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

Under  the  head  of  education  I  will  tell  you  more  about 
the  child  and  its  money. 

"Our  mothers,  unlike  yours,  do  not  make  baby  gar- 
ments, if  they  do  not  find  pleasure  in  it.  Infants'  com- 
plete costumes,  of  all  patterns,  are  ready-made  by  fac- 
tories, put  up  in  delicate  little  trunks.  The  mother, 
during  her  plentiful  leisure  time,  long  before  the  child  is 
born,  examines  the  contents  of  the  little  trunks  in  the 
store,  selects  the  most  suitable  one,  and  also  gets  such 
additional  articles  put  in  as  she  may  desire.  All  of  us, 
men  and  women,  are  pleased  to  see  a  clean,  neatly 
dressed  child.  We  all  delight  in  nursing  and  enter- 
taining it.  No  mother  buys  too  much  for  this  purpose 
to  suit  the  family. 

"The  foregoing  is  a  brief  explanation  of  the  sex  re- 
lation of  man  and  woman  on  Mars.  It  clearly  shows 
you  that  our  women  are  perfectly  free  and  independent, 
not  only  in  word,  as  you  try  to  make  your  women  be- 
lieve, but  in  actual  practice.  Our  highest  aim  of  both 
men  and  women,  in  all  our  undertakings,  is  to  live  a 
liappy  life,  and  we  have  learned  long  ago  that  we  cannot 
live  a  happy  life  without  living  z. pure  life;  for  impurity 
is  always  attended  with  suffering. 

"Our  women  enjoy  every  privilege  that  our  men 
enjoy.  They  receive  like  compensation  for  labor;  this 
makes  them  financially  free.  They  choose  their  own 
occupation,  and  are  eligible  to  all  positions  to  which 
the  merit  of  their  fitness  can  bring  them;  this  makes 
them  free  industrially.  They  at  all  times  have  the 
privilege  of  being  a  mother,  or  not.  They  enjoy  the 
same  rights  in  going  to  see  their  suitor  as  the  man  en- 
joys in  going  to  see  his  sweetheart.  They  have  the 
privilege  of  inviting  into  their   private   apartment  any 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  269 

man  or  woman  whomsoever  and  whensoever  they 
please.  They  are  not  bound  by  marriage  to  any  par- 
ticular man  for  life.  As  mothers,  they  receive  the  very 
best  of  care  and  assistance.  They  are  not  compelled 
to  defray  more  of  the  expense  in  the  support  of  their 
children  than  their  proportionate  share  as  a  mem- 
ber of  a  family.  They  receive  the  same  compen- 
sation for  being  a  mother  as  they  would  for  work- 
ing in  the  garden  or  kitchen  or  'Com.'  They  can 
visit  and  travel  wherever  they  please,  and  always  select 
their  own  companions,  whether  at  home  or  abroad. 
They  are  completely  free  in  every  sense  of  the  word. 
Of  course,  our  men  are  just  as  free  and  independent  as 
our  women;  they  are  under  no  obligation  further  than 
what  they  choose  to  do.  Hence  we  have  no  sex 
monopolization." 

"Mr.  Midith,  it  may  be  that  such  social,  industrial 
and  sexual  relations  produce  that  high  state  of  order 
and  happiness  on  Mars;  but  I  fear  that  it  would  pro- 
duce nothing  but  chaos  and  misery  on  earth,"  said  Rev, 
Dudley,  after  having  apparently  listened  with  profound 
interest. 

"Very  likely  the  masses  of  mankind  here  would,  no 
doubt,  regard  such  a  sexual  arrangement  a  dangerous 
state  of  affairs,"  continued  Mr.  Midith.  "But  when  we 
take  the  testimony  of  history  we  find  that  such  a  fear 
manifested  by  the  multitude  is  of  little  or  no  intrinsic 
worth.  The  masses  of  mankind,  burdened  with  toil  and 
buried  in  superstition,  have  always  at  first  feared  the  bet- 
ter things  that  were  proposed  in  the  line  of  progress 
and  freedom.  This  fear  of  danger  from  the  masses, 
manifested  toward  a  measure  of  advance,  is  not  so 
much  a  sign  that  the  proposed  system  is  vicious,  espe- 


270  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

cially  if  the  measure  tends  toward  individual  free- 
dom, as  it  is  a  sign  that  those  who  fear,  distrust,  and 
oppose  it  are  yet  immature  for  it.  Their  chord  of 
sympathy  and  respect  for  others  does  not  yet  vibrate 
in  unison  w^ith  that  high  ethical  standard.  They  feel 
a  real  discord,  but  they  locate  that  discord  in  the  pro- 
posed system,  while  it  really  is  located  in  their  own 
immature  hearts  and  minds.  Just  in  proportion  as 
their  hearts  and  minds  are  raised  to  a  higher,  broader, 
and  nobler  standard,  the  fear  of  danger  and  impractica- 
bility disappears.  A  few  illustrations  will  make  this 
plain: 

"When  Mr.  Garrison  first  raised  his  voice  against 
the  long  fostered  institution  of  chattel  slavery  in  the 
United  States,  he  was  calumniated  by  nearly  every  man, 
woman  and  child  within  the  boundaries  of  the  nation; 
he  was  stigmatized  a  crank,  a  fool,  a  traitor  to  his 
country,  an  enemy  to  the  Christian  religion,  a  subverter 
of  the  highest  and  noblest  civilization  that  ever  flour- 
ished on  the  face  of  the  earth.  He  was  a  traitor  then. 
Now  he  is  a  Jicro.  But  his  proposed  system  wis  as 
good  and  true  when  he  first  proposed  it  as  it  is  now; 
but  the  people's  hearts  and  minds  did  not  correspond 
to  it  then.  They  thought  that  the  defect  lay  in  Garri- 
son's system,  but  it  was  really  secreted  in  themselves. 
A  little  additional  intelligence  and  sympathy  put  their 
hearts  and  minds  just  in  tune  with  the  proposed  system. 
Just  so  with  our  sex  relations.  We  have  had  a  little 
longer  time  to  evolve,  and  therefore  attained  a  little 
higher  and  purer  aspirations  than  you  have;  and  because 
you  can  but  dimly  or  not  at  all  see  the  altitude  to  which 
the  INIarsitcs  have  ascended,  you,  like  the  contempo- 
raries of  Garrison,  at  once   declared  our  position  dan- 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    IND.VmUALISM.  27, 

gerous  and  impracticable.     But  do  not  forget  to  search 

peopirr::'r.rto--Teirde;raTd:,:^ 

contemporaries  of  that  age  argued  that  people  woud 

ha°  ,Z  "'■■■  T'  """""'  ^"^"  ^  lawfbu^'tlrsTa 
has  long  s.nce  been  repealed  or  is  entirely  ignored 
and  people  pay  their  debts  perhaps  better  now  t  ran 
hey  drd  when  the  law  was  in  force.  But  now  you  a! 
that  you  could  not  do  business  without  laws  fo"  he 
..//../..«  of  debts,  but  you  see  we.  under  a  better  sys 
tem    have  no  use  for  such   laws,  because  we  have  no 

.s   v^       "tT  K  ''''=  '"^^  '"'^"S'^"  "■-  conditio  I    U 
s   your  old   barbarous  profit  system  that  makes  you 
think  you  require  such  laws.     As  soon  as  you  adorn  a 
,»./ system  of  trade  there  can  be  no  debts  t'o  colkct 

that  o  tl^rrVi  ^  "'""^^  that  a  government  like 
caul    1  !  ^"'"'  "  "°  government  at  all,  be- 

cause the  people  enjoy  too  much  individual  freedom 

crumW^To  o°""'  ""  f"  ""'"*''  that  it  musUoon' 
lievT  hat  TV"  ""'  '"°""''  ^"'^  y°"  ^"d  I  be- 
crumble  b  m"'"'"   g°^<='™^"t   ■■''    destined  to 

freedom      Y     ?    t'  "'"^'^  ''^'^^  '°°  ""'^  -dividual 

s  am  look  I  °"  '""  ^'='^"°"^  ^^  'he  Rus- 

sians  00k  at  your  government  of  the  United  States 

^ow  just  notice  your  illogical  position.     If  phys- 
ical force  IS  a  factor  of  ^o,a„ess  in  a  governmen?  the 

beTaTirL"!*''  ^"';  '^  °"^  °'  "'^  best  on  ear 
because  ,t   perhaps  employs  a  ma.ximum  of  physica 
force;  and  ,f  phj-sical  force  is  a  factor  of  badnesf  n  a 
government,  then  our  Marsian  government  is  the  best 
because  n  employs  a  minimum  of  physical  force     No 


2/2  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

doubt,  in  your  opinion  both  the  Czar  and  the  Marsites 
are  wrong,  the  former  for  too  much  compulsion  and 
the  latter  for  too  little.  You  are  standing  somewhere 
between  these  two  points.  You  are  standing  at  a  point 
which  exactly  corresponds  with  your  intellectual  cult- 
ure. Each  person  measures  his  position  by  his  own 
ethical  standard.  But  notwitli«tanding  your  constant 
protest  against  individual  freedom,  you  are  slowly 
drifting  away  from  the  Czar  toward  individualism,  and 
whenever,  in  time,  you  stand  in  our  footsteps,  you  will 
see  that  your  present  sex  relations  are  as  slavish,  des- 
potic and  impure  as  you,  at  present,  look  upon  the 
despotism  and  injustice  of  the  Czar." 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

COMPARISON    OF    OUR    SEX  RELATIONS    WITH    YOURS. 

"I  have  so  far  told  you,"  continued  Mr.  Midith   "of 
our  sex  reIation.s  as  they  now  actually  exist  on   Mars. 
I  have  so    ar  offered  no  comments  on  either  our  prac- 
tice of  mdividual  freedom  sexually,  or  on  your  mar- 
riage system.     But  to  leave  it  without  further  investi- 
gation and  comparison  would  be  a  very  incomplete  ac- 
count.     Let    us    closely  and    impartially    investigate 
whether  it  is  your  or  our  system  of  sex  relation  wfich 
IS  most  nearly  in  accord  with  the   known   laws   of  life 
health  and  happiness.     Let  us  see  what  defects  and 
demerits  we  can  find  in  either  of  them 

"It   is  a  well-known   fact  that   the   exercise  of  the 
sexual  function  is  an  expenditure  of  vital  energy;  and 

adjusted  that  he  exercises  it  only  for  the  special  pur- 
pose  of  reproduction,  is  the  most  complete  person  sex- 
ually, while  he  who  exercises  it  most  excessively,  or 
who  IS  most  passionately  prompted  to  exercise  it  most 
excessively  either  in  a  married  state,  as  you  have  it 
here,  or  under  individual  freedom,  is  the  most  incom- 
plete or  licentious  person  sexually 

.J^y  ^^'^^'' ^^^  ^Sree  that   the   higher  inferior 
animals  live  a  comparatively  chaste   life;  while  man 
here    on    earth,  lives    a    comparatively   unchaste    life' 
Why  IS  this?     There  must  be  a  cause  for  it.  if  you  be-' 


274  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

lievc  in  universal  causation,  and  as  long  as  the  cause 
exists  the  effect  will  naturally  follow.  To  find  and  re- 
move the  cause,  then,  must  be  your  whole  aim  in  this 
field  of  purification  and  advancement.  The  Marsites 
have  long  ago  removed  the  causes  of  unchastity  and 
are  therefore  living  a  comparatively  pure  life.  Let  us 
see  now  whether  we  can  find  the  causes  producing  the 
purity  in  the  inferior  animals  and  the  impurity  in  yoKf 
human  beings,  as  they  now  live  on  earth." 

"Show  us  first,  then,  why  it  is  that  the  inferior  ani- 
mal lives  a  pure  life  sexually,"  said  Viola.  "I  mean, 
give  us  your  reason  for  it,  Mr.  Midith." 

"Very  well,"  continued  Mr.  Midith.  "I  have 
already  said  that  the  exercise  of  the  sexual  function  is 
an  expenditure  of  vital  energy;  that  proposition  you, 
no  doubt,  all  admit.  We  have  seen  elsewhere,  too, 
that  as  we  descend  in  the  scale  of  animal  life,  from 
man  downward,  they  become  more  and  more  prolific. 

"In  the  lower  orders  of  life,  millions  must  die  in 
or.der  to  give  room  and  opportunity  for  a  few  to  live. 
The  struggle  for  existence  in  the  orders  below  man  is 
so  fierce  that,  with  their  present  prolificness,  only  a  few 
of  the  fittest  can  survive.  Those  individuals,  who  are 
most  perfect  at  birth,  and  who  direct  their  vital  energy 
most  economically  in  harmony  with  the  so-called  laws 
of  life,  survive;  while  the  weakly  born  and  the  licen- 
tious ones  must  perish  in  the  fierce  struggle  for  exist- 
ence. Hence,  the  phenomena  of  evolution  forces  the 
inferior  animal  to  live  a  chaste  life,  or  perish  from  the 
effect  of  expending  unnecessary  energy." 

"But  why  do  not  the  phenomena  of  evolution,  as 
you  call  them,  also  force  man  to  live  a  virtuous  life?" 
asked  Rev.  Dudley. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  2/5 

"That  seems  very  plain  to  me,"  replied  Mr.  Midith. 
"But,  in  the  first  place,  let  us  keep  in  mind  that  in  a 
state  of  perfect  sexual  freedom  the  human  being,  like 
the  inferior  animal,  does  live  a  comparatively  chaste 
life,  as  I  know  the  Marsites  do.  As  evolution  gradu- 
ally develops  the  higher  intellectual  faculties  of  man, 
a  keener  sense  of  appreciating  a  faultless  body  and  a 
highly  cultivated  mind  is  continually  produced,  so  that 
he  feels  more  and  more  reluctant  to  waste  his  animal 
forces  in  licentious  acts  which  impair  the  physical  and 
mental  capacities  after  which  he  is  seeking,  and  with- 
out which  no  one  can  be  really  happy. 

"Now  let  us  see  why  the  human  being,  as  he  now 
exists  on  earth,  does  not  live  a  pure,  chaste  life.  Why 
he  is  so  intemperate  in  many  directions.  Let  us  see  if 
we  can  discover  some  of  the  causes  that  produce  this 
evil  and  misery.  I  am  well  aware  that  your  people,  as 
a  rule,  do  not  like  to  be  reminded  of  their  faults.  But, 
nevertheless,  I  believe  we  should  always  tell  the  whole 
truth,  regardless  of  immediate  likes  and  dislikes. 

"The  inferior  animal  lives  by  virtue  of  compara- 
tively fezv  and  simple  functions,  while  man  lives  by 
ma7iy  and  complex  ones.  The  animal,  then,  is  harder 
pressed  for  room  and  opportunity,  and  lives  by  virtue 
of  fewer  functions  than  man.  If  the  brute  animal  vio- 
lates one  of  its  few  functions,  it  must  perish  in  the  hard 
struggle  for  existence;  while  man,  on  the  other  hand,' 
is  enabled  to  live  by  his  majiy  complex  functions  in  a 
milder  struggle,  even  if  he  does  violate  to  a  certain  de- 
gree the  sexual  function. 

"Your  present  earthly  human  being,  then,  is  on  the 
one  hand  so  complex  that  the  partial  violation  of  one 
of  his  mg-ny  complex  functions  does  not  cause  him  to 


276  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

perish  directly  like  the  inferior  animal,  while  on  the 
other  hand,  his  higher  faculties  of  keenly  appreciating 
the  highest  physical  perfection  and  mental  eminence 
are,  as  yet,  not  sufficiently  developed  to  turn  his  steps 
only  on  the  path  of  virtue  and  purity.  You  do  not  es- 
teem life  and  health  as  highly  as  we  do.  But  as  intel- 
lectual development  continues,  you  will  gradually  feel 
that  every  act  that  conduces  to  the  fullness  of  life,  in- 
dividually and  socially,  produces  happiness  as  a  whole, 
and  is  therefore  right;  while  every  act  that  detracts 
from  the  fullness  of  life,  individually  and  socially,  pro- 
duces unhappiness  as  a  whole,  and  is  therefore  wrong." 

"  You  have  shown  to  my  satisfaction,  Mr.  Midith, 
why  an  inferior  animal,  according  to  the  nature  of 
things,  is  compelled  to  live  a  pure,  chaste  life;  and 
that  man  can,  if  he  so  desires,  live  a  comparatively 
unchaste  one,"  said  Mr.  Uwins.  "  I  can  plainly  see  the 
causes  that  produce  the  chastity  in  the  inferior  animals, 
but  I  cannot  see  the  causes  that  produce  the  excessive 
sexual  function  in  our  human  being.  Why  does  our 
human  being  not  derive  more  pleasure  from  leading  a 
pure,  chaste  life,  which  is  in  accord  with  life  and  health, 
than  he  does  from  leading  a  licentious  life?" 

"  Let  us  see,  then,  if  we  can  point  out  the  causes 
which  make  the  earthly  human  being  unchaste.  We 
have  seen  that  the  inferior  animal  leads  a  chaste  life, 
and  I  have  also  told  you  that  the  Marsites  do  the 
same.  According  to  these  facts,  then,  unchastity,  the 
same  as  chattel  slavery,  is  possible  only  during  a  par- 
ticular stage  of  intellectual  progress.  Below  this  par- 
ticular stage,  the  fierce  struggle  for  room  and  oppor- 
tunity permits  only  the  most  virtuous  to  survive;  while 
above  that  particular  stage,  the  pleasure  derived  from 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  277 

enjoying  the  most  complete  life  possible  becomes  so 
agreeable  that  a  violation  of  a  physiological  law  is  too 
painful. 

"Now,  in  order  to  find  the  causes  of  unchastity,  let 
us  enumerate  some  of  the  differences  existing  between 
our  and  your  system  of  sex  relation. 

"I.  You  marry  for  life;  we  do  not.  2.  Your  church 
and  state  interfere  with  your  sexual  affairs;  we  leave  it 
in  the  hands  of  the  individual  the  same  as  in  the  case 
of  the  inferior  animal.  3.  Our  women  are  not  financially 
dependent  on  the  man;  yours,  as  a  rule,  are.  4.  Our 
women  have  the  privilege  of  soliciting  the  love  of  any 
man  whose  sexual  co-operation  they  desire;  yours  have 
not.  5.  In  a  state  of  sexual  freedom,  the  woman 
regulates  her  own  sexual  affairs  to  suit  herself;  in  a  state 
of  marriage,  or,  in  other  words,  interference  of  church 
and  state,  the  man  or  husband  largely  runs  the  sexual 
affairs  to  suit  himself  the  same  as  he  runs  the  financial 
and  political  affairs.  6.  We  invariably  room  alone, 
both  men  and  women;  under  your  marriage  system  your 
husband  and  wife  invariably  room  and  lodge  together 
7.  You  make  your  women  dependent  creatures  by  not 
financially  compensating  maternal  labor  the  same  as 
mining,  farming,  etc. ;  we  make  her  independent  because 
we  pay  her  the  same  compensation  for  maternal  work 
as  we  do  for  any  other  labor.  8.  You  shift  the  burden 
of  parental  cares  almost  exclusively  off  unto  the 
mother;  while  we  act  on  the  supposition  that  we  have 
all  received  parental  care  during  our  infancy,  and  that 
we  in  turn  should  do  the  same  for  some  one  else, 
whether  we  are  parents  or  not;  to  neglect  this  would 
make  us  shirks,  for  we  would  not  be  paying  for  what  we 
received  during  our  infancy,     g.  We  teach  the  laws  of 


2/8  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

sexuality  to  our  children  of  all  ages;  you  try  to  hide 
all  knowledge  of  it.  Hence,  we  make  intelligence  the 
safeguard  of  sexual  purity,  while  you  make  ignorance 
the  safeguard  of  it." 

"  As  I  have  said  before,  Mr.  Midith,"  said  Rev. 
Dudley,  "your  system  of  sex  relations  may  do  very 
well  on  Mars,  but  I  think  we  ought  to  keep  what  we 
have  as  long  as  we  have  a  good  one,  and  that  we  un- 
doubtedly have.  I  firmly  believe  that  our  sexual  rela- 
tions are  better  now  than  they  have  ever  been  before, 
or  than  they  are  in  any  other  country  in  the  world — 
here,  or  on  any  other  planet  or  moon." 

"  It  may  be  true.  Rev,  Dudley,  that  your  sexual, 
and  even  your  social  and  industrial  relations,  are  better 
now  than  they  ever  were  before,  but  that  may  not  be  a 
sign  that  they  need  no  further  improvement.  Best,  as 
I  have  told  you  once  before,  has  nearly  always  been  a 
deceptive,  unreliable  criterion.  Nothing  is  good  enough 
unless  it  \s  fa7dtless.  You  must  remember  that  every 
age  always  had  the  best  of  everything,  perhaps  better 
than  any  preceding  age.  There  was  a  certain  people 
two  thousand  years  ago  that  had  the  best  system  of 
sex  relation,  and  the  contemporaries  of  that  age  doubt- 
less used  the  same  argument  against  those  who  desired 
to  improve  it  then  as  you  are  now  using  against  me. 
You  are  undoubtedly  proud  of  the  progressive  achieve- 
ments of  your  ancestors,  but  you  seem  to  fear  the  im- 
provements of  your  contemporaries  and  of  your  pos- 
terity But  you  need  not  fear  progress  of  any  kind. 
As  I  have  told  you  some  time  ago,  all  wrong  arises 
from  Ignorance.  Hence,  there  can  be  but  one  line  of 
advancement,  and  that  line  is  by  the  way  of  acquiring 
more  and  more  intelligence,  which,  on  the  one  hand, 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  279 

tends  to  adjust  and  perfect  voluntary  co-operation  on 
the  highest  possible  scale,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
tends  to  give  more  and  more  freedom  to  the  individual. 
Any  proposed  improvement  which  does  not  bear  these 
marks  is  not  in  the  line  of  progress.  If  our  sex  rela- 
tion is  more  nearly  in  harmony  with  these  principles, 
it  is  better  than  yours;  if  yours  is  more  so,  yours  is  the 
better.  We  must  continually  strive  to  improve  what  we 
have.  The  microscope,  the  spectroscope,  the  engine, 
and  human  intelligence  are  more  nearly  perfect  now 
than  they  ever  were  before,  as  far  as  you  know;  but  we 
should  all  strive  to  improve  them  as  much  now  as  any 
of  our  ancestors  did,  to  whom  we  owe  the  previous  im- 
provements. Only  a  faultless  thing  is  good  enough. 
Improvement  should  cease  only  when  perfection  makes 
further  improvement  impossible. 

"  It  is  like  this,  then,  Rev.  Dudley:  As  long  as  we 
can  point  out  wrongs  in  any  system,  no  matter  whether 
the  system  is  the  best  or  the  zvorst,  it  is  not  what  it 
ought  to  be;  and  no  honest,  progressive  person  who 
has  the  welfare  and  happiness  of  his  fellow-man  at 
heart  can  remain  silent  or  indifferent  as  long  as  this 
wrong  or  evil  remains  in  sight. 

"The  way  to  test  a  system  is  to  analyze  it;  to  look 
at  all  its  parts  and  relations;  to  endeavor  to  find  all  the 
faults  we  can;  to  compare  it  impartially  with  any  sys- 
tem that  may  be  offered  in  place  of  it.  We  should 
never  try  to  cover  up  the  defects  by  a  few  merits  which 
it  may  contain.  A  truthful  system  contains  not  a 
single  demerit.  If  it  does  it  is  faulty,  and  the  faults 
should  be  eliminated." 

"  Those  words  which  you  have  spoken  are  all  very 
true,"  observed  Rev.  Dudley.     "  I  fully  agree  with  you 


280  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

that  all  wrongs  should  be  righted,  but  I  can  see  no 
wrongs  in  our  marriage  system;  but,  on  the  contrary,  I 
believe  that  it  is  divinely  instituted,  that  it  is  the  most 
sacred  boon  that  has  ever  brought  joy  and  gladness  to 
the  human  heart.  I  believe  that  conjugal  affection  has 
conduced  more  toward  human  happiness  and  content- 
ment than  any  other  one  thing.  I  believe  that  the 
greatest  earthly  bliss  is  found  in  the  union  of  man  and 
wife,  and  that  for  life,  too." 

"  I  think,  Rev.  Dudley,  that  you  are  perfectly  hon- 
est and  sincere  in  what  you  say.  But  you  must  not 
forget  that  honesty  and  sincerity  are  not  necessarily 
signs  of  truth  and  justice,  for  which  alone  we  should 
be  seeking.  I  believe  that  Thomas  de  Torquemada, 
Inquisitor-General  of  Spain,  was  perfectly  honest  and 
sincere  in  killing  the  cream  of  European  thought..  The 
masters  of  chattel  slaves,  the  soldier  who  fights  for  the 
preservation  of  a  monarchy,  the  mother  that  drowns 
her  babe  in  the  Ganges,  the  widow  that  practices  sut- 
tee, the  social  parasite  that  lives  on  profit,  interest, 
rent  and  taxes,  the  savage  that  steals  his  wife,  and  the 
minister  that  frightens  his  congregation  with  an  imag- 
inary hell  fire,  are  very  likely  all  honest  and  sincere 
in  doing  those  things  that  we,  with  a  little  more  knowl- 
edge, would  condemn.  The  question  is  not  whether 
we  are  honest  and  sincere,  but  whether  we  are  rigJit 
a.nd  Just.  Is  our  view  correct  or  is  it  erroneous?  Have 
we  thoroughly  and  impartially  examined  every  side  of 
our  position,  or  have  we,  too,  been  educated  and  raised 
in  an  atmosphere  of  superstition,  prejudice  and  jeal- 
ousy, like  the  soldier,  mother,  widow,  etc.? 

"You  say.  Rev.  Dudley,  that  you  can  find  no  faults 
and  defects  in  your  marriage  system.     That  is  nothing 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  28 1 

strange.  You,  no  doubt,  have  been  educated  that  way, 
and  very  likely  you  have  blindly  accepted  the  dogmas 
of  your  ancestors  and  masses  of  your  contemporaries. 
Let  us,  then,  fairly  and  impartially  examine  and  com- 
pare your  marriage  system  with  our  sex  relation.  I  am 
fully  aware  that  it  is  a  tender  topic  for  you  to  handle 
in  your  present  age  and  thought;  but  in  doing  so  we 
should  endeavor  to  lay  aside  as  much  as  we  can  of  our 
superstition,  prejudice  and  jealousy.  We  should  boldly 
and  untimidly  seek  to  find  the  truth  wherever  it  may 
lead.  Truth  is  always  worth  following,  and  without 
we  find  the  truth  on  the  sex  relations  we  can  not  hope 
to  live  clean  lives." 

"I  should  be  very  much  pleased,  Mr.  Midith,"  said 
Rev.  Dudley,  "to  have  you  examine  and  compare  our 
system  of  marriage  with  your  individual  sex  relation. 
You  are,  no  doubt,  better  capable  of  fairly  judging  our 
institutions  than  we  are,  because,  as  you  said,  you 
have  not  been  biased  by  education  and  training." 

"Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Midith. 

"In  the  first  place,  have  you  ever  thought  from  what 
source  you  received  that  great  'boon — your  institution 
of  marriage — which  you  say  is  'divinely  instituted?' 
Let  us  examine  from  whence  you  received  it.  Accord- 
ing to  the  doctrine  of  evolution,  the  only  theory  of 
the  genesis  of  man,  which  is  supported  by  science, 
man  slowly,  through  the  lapse  of  countless  ages, 
evolved  from  lower  organisms  by  the  agency  of  the 
survival  of  the  fittest,  etc.  This  implies,  then,  that  all 
our  ancestors  were  at  one  time  savages. 

"We  all  know  that  the  savage  in  the  lowest  stages 
of  barbarism,  even  as  he  now  exists,  steals  and  forcibly 
takes  his  wife  or  wives  from  other  tribes,  etc.     He  also 


282  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

oiten  forces  captives  to  become  his  wives.  Somewhat 
later  in  the  stage  of  social  development,  the  man  gen- 
erally buys  his  wives  without  their  consultation.  At  a 
still  later  period  the  old  folks,  instead  of  the  young 
folks  who  are  to  be  married,  make  the  bargain.  And 
still  later  on,  the  period  in  which  you  are  now  living, 
young  boys  and  girls  give  each  other  away  for  life;  at 
an  age,  too,  you  must  remember,  when  they  are  young, 
inexperienced  and  blinded  by  first  love,  as  you  term  it. 
No  amount  of  after-knowledge  on  the  sexual  relations 
is  of  any  value  to  the  contracting  parties  as  far%s  the 
contract  is  concerned,  for,  according  to  your  doctrine, 
the  parties  are  indissolubly  bound  together  for  life  as 
man  and  wife.  According  to  your  marriage  system, 
they  are  supposed  to  live  together  for  life,  whether 
they  love  each  other  or  not.  Whether  they  afterward 
quarrel  or  love  some  one  else  better  cannot  be  taken 
into  account.  Nothing  less  than  the  crudest  abuse 
enables  them  to  secure  a  divorce,  and  even  then  the 
divorced  parties  are  looked  upon  with  scorn  and  con- 
tempt. 

"You  would,  no  doubt,  think  it  cruel.  Rev.  Dudley, 
if  some  one  should  steal  you,  like  a  savage  steals  his 
wife,  and  compel  you  to  live  with  a  woman  with  whom 
you  did  not  want  to  live  or  whom  you  did  not  love. 
But  there  is  very  little  difference,  when  we  examine 
the  matter  closely,  whether  a  woman  is  stolen  and 
compelled,  from  the  start,  to  live  with  a  man,  or 
whether  she  voluntarily  marries  him,  thinking  that  she 
loves  him,  but  afterward  finds  that  she  does  not  love 
him,  that  she  was  mistaken  like  all  mankind  are  at 
times  likely  to  be. 

"You  compel  a  husband  and  wife  by  law,  super- 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  283 

stition  and  public  opinion,  to  live  together,  whether 
they  really  love  each  other,  or  whether  they  simply 
stay  together  to  gratify  their  passions.  Your  church 
and  state  interfere  with  the  marriage  as  well  as  with 
the  dissolution  of  it.  You  can  clearly  see,  then,  that 
your  system  of  marriage  is  based  upon  force,  which,  it 
is  true,  has  gradually  diminished  from  the  lowest  stages 
of  barbarism,  when  the  husband  stole  his  wife,  to  the 
present  time,  when  the  contracting  parties  give  each 
other  away  for  life  under  a  contract  which  they  are  not 
at  liberty  to  make  or  dissolve  without  the  interference 
of  church  and  state. 

"With  us  no  men  and  women  are  together  who  do 
not  really  love  each  other.  Those  who  do  not  love 
each  other  sexually  are  no  sexual  companions;  and 
those  who  once  did  love  each  other,  but  have  ceased 
loving,  forsake  each  other's  company  to  the  extent 
that  it  becomes  agreeable  to  them.  They  are  much 
freer,  at  any  time,  to  seek  other  company  than 
you  are  to  make  yonv  first  choice,  which  must  continue 
for  life.  Why  should  two  persons  be  compelled  to 
live  together  when  they  do  not  desire  to?  When  they 
fight,  quarrel,  and  dislike  each  other?  Why  should 
not  parting  be  as  free  and  honorable  as  coming 
together?  Why  should  a  man  and  wife  eke  out  a 
miserable  existence,  simply  because  they  for  once 
selected  the  wrong  person  to  live  with?" 

"But  every  one,  in  making  this  choice  for  life,  should 
be  very  cautious.  They  should  know  each  other  well 
before  they  entered  into  this  life-contract.  Too  many 
marriages  are  entered  into  carelessly.  The  parties  do 
not  understand  each  other  well  enough,"  said  Rev. 
Dudley. 


284  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"Wc  fully  agree  to  what  you  have  said,"  observed 
Mr.  Midith.  "You  say  that  great  caution  should  be 
exercised  by  the  contracting  parties.  But  can  we  always 
be  so  cautious  as  never  to  make  a  mistake?  I  think 
that  in  all  our  undertakings  wc  are  liable  to  make  mis- 
takes; and  would  you  recommend  that  one  mistake 
should  condemn  us  to  a  life  of  misery  forever  after? 
You  say  that  the  contracting  parties  should  know  each 
other  well  before  they  entered  into  a  marriage  con- 
tract. We  agree  perfectly  with  you  there.  We 
believe  that  it  requires  more  than  a  whole  lifetime 
for  a  man  and  a  woman  to  know  each  other  well 
enough  to  enter  into  a  contract  which  is  to  be  binding 
for  life;  therefore,  you  see,  we  exercise  the  greatest 
caution,  because  we  study  each  other  during  our  whole 
lifetime,  and  then  claim  that  our  knowledge  of  one 
another  is  too  limited  to  give  ourselves  away  even  for  a 
single  day.  The  evil  of  the  earthites  lies  in  the  fact 
that  your  ill-adjusted  social  and  economic  institu- 
tions require  binding  promises ;  and  a  promise,  accord- 
ing to  your  common  acceptation  of  the  term,  is  a  bind- 
ing declaration  made  by  one  person  to  another  to  do,  or 
not  to  do,  a  certain  act  at  some ////«rr  time.  According 
to  this  definition,  there  can  be  no  place  for  a  binding 
promise  in  a  harmonious,  progressive  world.  Promises 
and  harmonious  progress  are  incompatible,  unless  all 
the  parties  are,  at  all  times,  as  free  to  break  them  as 
as  they  were  to  make  them;  and  this  admission  elimi- 
nates the  bi/iding  c\cm.QnX.,  and,  therefore,  destroys  the 
popular  meaning  of  a  promise. 

"The  evil  consequences  of  binding  promises  can  be 
easily  seen  when  we  bear  in  mind  that,  in  a  progressive 
world,  we  know  more  to-morrow  than  we  know  to-day. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  285 

Also,  that  harmony  implies  absence  of  external  coer- 
cion; for,  all  external  coercion  being  social  discord,  a 
promise  that  appears  just  and  feels  agreeable  when 
measured  with  to-day's  knowledge,  may  appear  unjust 
and  become  disagreeable  when  measured  with  the 
standard  of  to-morrow's  knowledge;  and  in  so  far  as 
the  fulfillment  of  a  promise  becomes  disagreeable  or 
impossible,  no  matter  what  the  promise  may  be,  it  is 
an  element  of  discord,  and  discord  is  the  opposite  of 
harmony.  Hence,  before  you  can  hope  to  enjoy  unin- 
terrupted harmony,  your  institutions  must  be  so 
molded  that  there  is  no  place  in  them  for  a  binding 
promise.  In  regard  to  the  sexual  relations,  nothing 
but  mutual  inclination  should  be  made  the  bonds  of 
union.  If  you  have  closely  followed  my  narrative,  you 
will  have  discovered  long  before  this  time,  that,  on 
Mars,  we  have  no  bi7iding  promises.  In  our  just  sys- 
tems, we  can  not  apply  them  any  place,  and  we  know 
of  them  only  as  relics  of  past  crudity." 

"But  do  you  not  think,  Mr.  Midith,  that  licentious- 
ness would  run  riot  here  on  earth,  with  jj/^?/r  system  of 
sex  relation,  even  if  it  proves  to  be  ever  so  good  and 
pure  on  Mars?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"  I  do  not  claim  that  our  system  of  sex  relation 
would  operate  perfectly  here  on  earth,  or  perhaps  on 
any  other  world,"  observed  Mr.  Midith.  "  What  I 
claim  is  not  that  it  would  produce /tv^^v-/  results,  but 
that  it  would,  produce,  with  highly  intelligent  people, 
much  better  results  than  your  system  of  matrimony. 
That  the  human  family  can  and  would  live  a  cleaner 
and  happier  life  under  our  system  of  sex  relation, 
guarded  by  intelligence    and    on    individual    freedom, 


286  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

than  under  your  system  of  marriaf^e,  largely  guarded 
by  ignorance,  force,  superstition  and  jealousy. 

"  The  masses  of  the  contemporaries  of  an  institution 
rarely  ever  see  the  wrongs,  cruelties  and  evils  which 
that  institution  contains;  they  are  blinded  by  their  so- 
called  loyalty  and  patriotism.  We  might  give  a  few 
illustrations: 

"The  master  once  believed  that  no  wrong  could  be 
done  to  a  slave;  that  the  slave  had  no  rights  which  the 
master  was  bound  to  respect.  The  inquisitor  believed 
that  no  wrong  could  be  done  to  a  heretic.  The  warrior 
thought  the  same  of  his  captive.  The  witch-finder 
thought  that  no  amount  of  torture  he  inflicted  on  the 
supposed  witch  was  wrong  or  cruel.  Just  so  do  the 
vast  majority — yes,  nearly  all  of  your  men  and  women — 
believe  that  there  can  be  no  sexual  abuse  tuithiit  your 
bo7ids  of  matrimony.  But  yoJi  are  as  wrong  in  that 
as  your  ancestors  were  to  the  chattel  slave,  heretic, 
captive,  and  supposed  witch.  Is  it  not  a  fact  that 
nearly  every  family  home  under  your  marriage  system 
is  a  more  or  less  legalized  house  of  sexual  impurity 
(house  of  prostitution  as  you  term  it)  upheld  by  church 
and  state?  Is  it  not  true  that  the  sexual  function, 
under  your  system  of  matrimony,  is,  as  a  whole,  ex- 
ercised vastly  in  excess — perhaps  from  ten  to  a  hundred 
times?  Very  likely  this  truth  seems  painful  to  you  at 
this  age  of  your  earth,  but  it  is  a  truth,  nevertheless, 
which  you  are  bound  to  face  some  time,  if  you  do 
not  desire  to  keep  forever  the  pallor  of  disease  on  the 
sunken  cheeks,  pale  lips,  and  feeble  frame  of  nearly 
all  your  mothers,  especially  you  American  mothers. 
We  must  bear  in  mind  that  a  cliastc  life,  whether  in 
marriage  ox  02(t  oi  it,  is  one  in  which   the  sexual  func- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  287 

tions  of  the  male  and  of  the  female  are  mutually  ex- 
ercised only  in  accordance  with  the  most  vigorous 
health  and  highest  well-being  of  the  parties  as  they  are 
then  constituted.  Sexual  activity,  then,  whether  mar- 
ried or  not,  is  licentious  and  dissolute,  just  in  propor- 
tion as  it  is  excessive. 

"Those  acts  which  detract  from  the  fullness  of  life 
are  wrong,  because  they  cannot,  as  a  whole,  be  product- 
ive of  the  greatest  happiness,  and  therefore  an  excess- 
ive exercise  of  any  function  implies  a  waste,  which,  as 
a  whole,  is  productive  oi  pahi  and  is  therefore  wrong. 
The  church  or  state  can  no  more  change  or  suspend 
the  laws  of  life,  waste,  and  reproduction,  by  a  marriage 
ceremony,  than  the  acquired  abnormal  passions  of  an  in- 
dividual can  change  or  suspend  them. 

"An  organism,  whether  man  or  beast,  is  sexually  per- 
fect only  whenever  its  sexual  instinct  is  so  organized 
and  developed  that  the  agreeable  exercise  of  this  func- 
tion does  not  detract  from  the  fullness  of  life  and  hap- 
piness, on  the  one  hand,  and  is  sufficiently  active  for 
the  normal  propagation  of  the  species  on  the  other.  The 
sexual  organization  of  the  Marsites  is,  of  course,  not  en- 
tirely perfect,  but  yours  is  about  as  vicious  and  faulty 
as  it  can  well  be. 

"When  the  sexual  function,  like  that  of  your  human 
family,  has  once  become  greatly  in  excess  from  the 
evil  effects  of  a  vicious,  social  and  sexual  relation,  no 
system,  however  perfect,  can  at  once  remove  this  ex- 
cess. It  was  gradually  acquired  by  a  vicious  arrange- 
ment, and  must  also  be  gradually  eliminated  by  the  in- 
stitution of  a  more  perfect  arrangement. 

"As  we  placed  motherhood  more  and  more  under  the 
exclusive  control  of  the  woman,  our  sexual  association 


288  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

became  continually  purer  and  more  normal.  All  who 
are  familiar  with  the  anatomy,  physiology,  and  hy- 
giene of  the  organs  of  procreation  know  that  the 
female  organs  of  procreation  have  periods  of  alternate 
activity  and  rest  (menses,  gestation,  lactation,  age,  de- 
sirability of  motherhood,  etc.),  and  the  woman  is  the 
only  party  who  is  conscious  of  these  periods;  and  for 
these  and  other  reasons  which  I  have  already  stated, 
sexual  abuse,  if  it  once  exists,  can  be  diminished  and 
finally  disappear,  only  by  making  the  female  completely 
free  and  independent  from  the  male  as  we  find  them 
among  the  inferior  animals  and  among  the  Marsites. 

"To  be  sexually  perfect,  then,  docs  not  only  mean 
that  the  sexual  function  should  be  normally  exercised, 
but  that  even  the  sexual  desire  should  not  prompt  an 
excessive  use;  for  a  person  who  must  labor  to  curb  a 
desire  is  not  so  complete  as  one  who  has  the  desire  so 
adjusted  that  it  operates  only  in  conformity  with  the 
fullest  life,  and  therefore,  as  a  whole,  to  the  greatest 
happiness." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

COMPARISON  OF  OUR  SEX  RELATION  WITH  YOURS. 

[  Continued.  ] 

"In  yowv  force  or  marriage  system  your  ancestors,  as 
we  have  seen,  took  their  wives  by  stealing  or  forcibly 
taking  them  perhaps  from  other  tribes.  From  that 
primitive  time  to  this,  the  force  part  in  matrimony  has 
of  course  gradually  diminished.  The  woman  was  al- 
lowed more  and  more  privileges  and  freedom  from 
that  time  to  this.  But  during  all  this  time,  when  phys- 
ical force  and  man-made  laws  were  used,  the  man  got 
the  woman  so  completely  under  his  control  by  his 
superior  physical  power  and  by  placing  her  in  an 
atmosphere  of  masculine  dependence,  that  she  has 
largely  and  often  unconsciously  become  his  industrial, 
social  and  sexual  slave.  He  hems  her  in  by  almost 
insuperable  difficulties  on  all  sides,  and  then  uses  her 
as  his  slave  and  sexual  tool  under  the  sanctity  of 
his  particularly  established  system  of  matrimony. 

"Your  man,  in  the  sexual  world,  closely  resembles 
your  landlord  in  the  industrial  world.  The  landlord 
fences  the  laborer  off  from  the  vacant  land  so  that  the 
laborer  can  not  apply  his  labor  to  land,  from  which  all 
wealth  must  come,  and  then  makes  a  contract  with  the 
laborer  to  the  laborer's  great  disadvantage.  So  your 
man,  in  order  to  get  sexual  dominion,  first  creates  an  in- 
dustrial and  social  world,  in  which  a  free,  independent 

19  289 


290  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

woman  can  scarcely  make  a  living,  no  matter  how  hard 
and  long  she  toils.  He  makes  the  money  pass  through 
his  hands  and  makes  all  the  other  laws  to  suit  his  pur- 
pose. Your  men  deprive  your  women  of  nearly  every- 
thing that  the  man  considers  sacred. 

"In  the  social  world,  your  man  appoints  himself 
suitor,  and  compels  his  sweetheart  to  remain  at  home, 
waiting  for  his  appearance,  for  his  courtship.  If  she 
goes  forth  to  solicit  the  love  of  her  choice,  he  buries 
her  with  contempt,  so  that  none  of  his  masculine  com- 
panions will  choose  her  thereafter  for  a  life  partner. 
By  this  he  dooms  her  to  his  contemptible  financial 
and  industrial  world,  where  she  has  to  earn  her  own 
living  under  great  disadvantages.  In  the  sexual  world, 
your  man  is  still  more  cruel  and  aggressive.  Instead 
of  letting  the  woman  regulate  the  sexual  affairs  to  suit 
herself,  like  all  other  chaste  creatures  do,  the  man 
seems  to  be  the  lord  and  manager  there  too.  We  want 
to  keep  in  mind  that  with  the  higher  inferior  animal, 
which  enjoys  comparatively  perfect  sexual  freedom, 
and  which  lives  a  comparatively  chaste  life,  the  female 
regulates  all  sexual  relations. 

"But  this  is  not  all  by  any  means.  Do  you  not 
think  that  under  your  marriage  system  there  are  many 
mothers  now  that  would  not  be  mothers  if  women  were 
not  dependent  on  man  industrially?  Do  you  not  think 
that  women,  as  well  as  men,  would  be  much  freer  and 
happier,  if  women  enjoyed  social  equality  and  freedom? 
Do  you  not  think  that  your  wives  give  birth  to  many 
children  that  would  not  be  born  in  a  state  of  sexual 
freedom,  if  women  were  not  the  dupes  of  men  and  of 
the  marriage  superstition,  in  which  the  man  appoints 
himself  manager  and  his  wedded  wife  obeyer?  Do  you 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  29I 

not  think  that  thousands  upon  thousands  of  married 
men  and  women  live  or  stay  together  that  do  not 
really  love  each  other,  that  would  not  stay  together  an 
hour  in  a  world  like  ours,  where  one  is  as  capable  of 
supporting  himself  or  herself  as  another?  Do  you 
not  think  that  the  artificial  constraint  of  marriage 
tends  to  produce  an  abnormal  sexual  passion?  Do  you 
not  think  that  a  large  number  of  women  are  driven  to 
houses  of  sin  and  shame  by  your  marriage  system? 
Some  that  are  'unfortunately'  married,  and  others  that 
wanted  to  marry,  but  could  not  marry  to  suit  them- 
selves? Do  you  not  think  that  your  bonds  of  matrimony 
creates  an  unsatisfied  novelty  for  sex  relations  that  can 
be  properly  adjusted  only  by  a  wider  range  of  individ- 
ual freedom?  Do  you  not  think  that  a  married  woman, 
under  your  social  and  industrial  system,  is  a  slave  to 
husband  and  family,  no  matter  how  good  and  kind 
they  may  treat  her  as  a  wife  or  a  mother? 

"  Do  you  not  think  that  bearing  and  nursing 
offspring  is  productive  labor?  Should  not  mothers 
receive  equal  pay  for  administering  maternal  cares  to 
dependent  children  as  a  laborer  receives  for  his  phys- 
ical labor?  But  are  your  men  doing  that?  Are  they 
not  putting  off  more  than  half  of  all  the  physical  pro- 
ductive labor  onto  the  women,  and  then  incidentally, 
and  often  superstitiously,  burdening  them  with  bearing 
and  nursing  unwelcome  offspring?  Do  you  not  think 
that  the  thoughts,  the  temperament  and  the  state  of 
happiness  and  contentment  of  the  mother  are  trans- 
mitted to  the  child  long  before  it  is  born?  How  can 
the  babe  be  otherwise  than  the  parental  natures  out  of 
which  it  is  built?  Do  you  think  that  a  frowny,  irri- 
tated, poverty-stricken,  overburdened,  careworn,  slav- 


292  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

i.sh  mother  can  give  birth  to  a  child  having  directly 
opposite  traits  and  temperament?  Do  you  not  think 
that  your  marriage  system  produces  untidy,  slovenly 
and  careless  men  and  women,  while,  on  the  contrary, 
our  system  is  just  the  opposite?  Notice  how  much 
more  slovenly  and  untidy  your  married  men  and 
women  are,  as  a  rule,  than  those  who  are  not  married. 
We  are  beaux  and  sweethearts  as  long  as  we  live.  A 
rude,  careless,  untidy,  cruel  person  is  not  appreciated 
in  our  society.  He  is  not  likely  to  leave  many  off- 
spring. The  survival  of  the  fittest  with  us  is  in  full 
bloom;  with  you,  in  the  human  family,  it  is  compara- 
tively dead;  because,  if  they  are  once  married,  they 
are  bound  to  stay  together,  whether  they  are  tidy  or 
filthy  and  slovenly.  Do  you  not  think  that  your  mar- 
riage system  has  caused  the  abnormal  sexual  function 
in  your  human  being  as  we  now  find  him  on  earth?  Do 
you  not  take  the  management  of  the  sex  relations  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  women,  where  it  properly  belongs, 
and  place  it  practically  under  the  control  of  the  man?" 

"  It  is  true,  no  doubt,  that  a  husband  and  wife  often 
ignore  the  rule  of  sexual  purity,  according  to  your 
standard  of  it,"  said  Rev.  Dudley;  "  but  I  do  not  see 
why  men  and  women  should  be  more  excessive  sexu- 
ally in  a  wedded  state  than  in  a  state  of  sexual  free- 
dom.   Why  cannot  purity  be  practiced  in  matrimony?" 

"  There  are  many  reasons  why  there  can  be  no  sex- 
ual purity,  as  a  whole,  in  your  wedlock. 

"The  vast  majority  of  the  wedded  people,  as  near 
as  I  can  ascertain,  believe  that  there  can  be  no  sexual 
excesses  between  a  married  husband  and  wife.  They 
seem  to  believe  that  as  soon  as  an  officer  or  priest  has 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  293 

mumbled  a  few  words  over  the  contracting  parties,  the 
law  of  sexual  purity  can  thereafter  not  be  broken. 

"In  your  marriage  system,  too,  you  have  everything 
perverted  and  twisted  out  of  the  natural  order.  Let  us 
look  at  a  few  of  these  perversions.  We  find,  as  I  have 
told  you,  that  the  females  of  the  inferior  animals,  as 
well  as  the  highly  developed  Marsites,  regulate  their 
own  sexual  affairs;  that  the  female  solicits  the  sexual 
co-operation  of  the  male  whenever  she  desires  procre- 
ative  assistance.  The  male,  as  a  rule,  does  not  meddle 
with  sexual  affairs,  only  when  the  female  solicits  his 
love,  and  he  keeps  on  loving  until  the  female  rejects 
further  love,  when  he  will  cease,  or  is  forced  to  cease 
by  an  independent,  self-reliant  female.  We  see  here, 
then,  that  the  male  has  not  the  faculty  of  properly  ad- 
justing and  regulating  the  sexual  function  to  such  a 
high  degree  as  the  female,  but  that  he  receives  the 
guidance  from  the  female.  This  holds  good  in  the 
orders  of  the  inferior  animals  and  with  the  Marsites. 

"  In  your  marriage  system  things  are  just  the  re- 
verse. You  instituted,  as  I  believe,  your  system  of 
marriage  by  compulsion.  You  first  captured,  then 
bought,  etc.,  your  wife  or  wives.  Under  these  condi- 
tions, you  took  the  sexual  control  away  from  your 
women  and  vested  it  in  the  man.  But,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  man  does  not  possess  an  excellent  faculty  for  prop- 
erly regulating  and  adjusting  the  sexual  relation.  He 
was  deficient  here  in  what  he  undertook  to  do.  He 
forcibly  made  himself  a  guide  in  a  field  of  labor  where, 
by  his  very  organization,  he  naturally  required  guid- 
ance himself. 

"  So  the  man,  by  forcibly  assuming  control  of  the 
sexual  relations,  has  not  only  caused  an  abnormal  sex- 


294  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

ual  function  in  himself,  but  by  his  excesses  has  caused 
an  excess  in  the  woman  also;  so  that  if  the  woman 
could  be  free  at  once  and  assume  control  of  the  sexual 
affairs,  she  could,  with  her  present  excess,  not  begin 
immediately  to  live  a  perfectly  chaste  life,  but  would 
require  some  time  of  freedom  and  independence  to 
make  a  harmonious  and  normal  sexual  adjustment, 
which  can  never  be  brought  about  in  a  state  of  wedlock, 
in  which  a  woman  is  socially  and  industrially  dependent 
on  the  man.  Thus,  we  see,  that  the  excessive  passions 
have  been  transmitted  and  accumulated  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  and  therefore  require  some  time  for 
their  elimination. 

"Your  promiscuous  retirement  is  another  cause  of 
your  sexual  excess.  Each  individual  should  have  his 
or  her  separate  apartment  and  nightly  retire  alone. 

"You  will  notice  a  vast  difference  between  our 
mothers  and  yours.  Our  mothers  have  no  particular 
cares.  They  need  not  gather  eggs  to  buy  a  baby's 
frock  with.  They  need  not  ask  a  husband  for  a  nickel 
or  a  dollar.  They  have  no  jealous  husband  to  watch 
them  and  to  dictate  to  them.  They  have  nothing  to 
frown  about.  They  have  all  the  money  they  want  with- 
out asking  for  it,  and  earn  more  every  day.  They 
receive  as  much  pay  per  day  as  the  strongest  man  or 
the  greatest  genius.  They  can  write  to,  or  converse 
with,  any  man,  woman,  or  child.  No  one  can  be  jeal- 
ous, for  they  belong  to  no  one  but  themselves.  They 
have  not  given  themselves  away  and  'promised  to  obey.' 
They  can  go  out  walking  or  riding  with  whom  they 
please  or  with  whom  they  can  get.  They  are  at  liberty 
to  invite  any  one,  be  invited  by  any  one,  or  go  and  see 
any  one  they  please,  if  they  can  make  a  mutual  agree- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  295 

ment.  The  mothers,  or  those  who  are  about  to  be 
mothers,  can  visit  in  any  family,  community,  or  nation 
where  the  family  usher  finds  room  for  them,  and  still 
receive  the  same  daily  pay  as  a  man  or  woman  who 
works  at  home.  Besides  all  this,  she  receives,  in  her 
maternal  work,  all  the  assistance  possible.  In  a  word, 
she  is  perfectly  free  and  independent,  economically, 
socially  and  sexually. 

"Just  think  if  one  of  our  girls  or  mothers  were  com- 
pelled to  live  a  while  in  your  cruel,  poor,  superstitious 
and  jealous  world  !  Would  they  not  think  that  they 
were  in  a  worse  than  an  orthodox  hell?  Burdened 
down  with  the  labor  and  care  and  robbed  of  personal 
freedom  !  Do  you  not  think  that  they  would  make 
every  effort  to  return  to  their  native  world  of  wealth,  of 
true  love,  and  of  unbounded  freedom? 

"  Of  course,  our  ancient  history  shows,  that  our 
world  passed  through  similar  cruel,  poor,  and  slavish 
stages  as  your  world  is  in  now,  and  it  is  almost  positive 
that  the  evolution  of  a  higher  state  of  intelligence  will 
wipe  out  of  existence  all  your  present  poverty,  super- 
stition, jealousy,  and  slavery,  and  put  in  place  of  it  a 
social  and  industrial  system  that  will  produce,  by  vol- 
untary co-operation,  an  unlimited  amount  of  wealth; 
and,  at  the  same  time,  provides  a  boundless  degree  of 
individual  freedom  to  every  man,  woman  and  child, 
for,  with  a  certain  amount  of  intelligence,  always  goes 
a  certain  stage  of  social  and  industrial  development." 

"I  must  admit,  Mr.  Midith,  that  your  system  of 
sexual  freedom  would  be  a  grand  one  if  our  men  and 
women  were  ripe  for  it,"  said  Rev.  Dudley;  "but  I  fear 
that  we  do  not  possess  sufficient  culture  to  make  a  suc- 
cess of  it  yet.     I  fear  that  we  are,  as  you  said,  too  cruel, 


596  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDTVIDUALISM. 

jealous,  and  too  superstitious.  But  there  is  one  question 
I  would  like  to  ask,  and  that  is,  how  do  you,  in  a  state 
of  sexual  freedom,  prevent  premature  maternity?  Must 
a  woman  be  of  a  certain  age  before  she  is  allowed  to 
become  a  mother?" 

"In  the  first  place,  we  have  no  such  a  word  as  must 
in  our  social  and  sexual  system,"  replied  Mr.  Midith. 
If  premature  motherhood  is  objectionable,  it  should  be 
discouraged  and  discontinued  for  the  evil  and  wrong 
it  produces.  If  it  does  not  bring  evil  consequences  on 
any  one,  it  can  not  be  said  to  be  premature.  We  be- 
lieve, however,  that  it  may  be  premature  in  a  certain 
geologic  age,  and  that  it  does  entail  evil  consequences. 
Under  these  conditions  it  arrests  physical  and  mental 
development.  But,  in  time,  under  sexual  freedom,  the 
procreative  function  will  be  so  accurately  adjusted  that 
it  will  act  only  in  accord  with  the  most  vigorous  life, 
and  then  there  can  be  no  more  a  desire  for  premature 
maternity.  We  instruct  our  children  on  these  points 
of  premature  motherhood  as  clearly  as  we  can,  begin- 
ning at  the  age  of  childhood.  We  esteem  physical  and 
mental  perfection  above  all  other  tkings.  Anything 
that  impairs  them  is  strenuously  avoided.  Public 
opinion,  the  strongest  social  force,  is  also  against  it." 


CHAPTER  XX. 

SEX    RELATION. 

\^Concluded.'\ 

"Now,"  said  Mr.  Midith,  "may  I  ask  you  how  you 
prevent,  or  try  to  prevent  premature  maternity?  Do 
you  prevent  it  by  statute  law?  Public  opinion  and  the 
evil  consequences  attending  premature  maternity  are 
all  the  forces  that  you  employ  to  prevent  it.  You  have 
no  penal  laws  that  punishes  premature  maternity,  and 
if  you  had  they  would  be  powerless.  Our  system  of 
sex  relation  has  all  the  advantage  over  yours  on  this 
point  then. 

"We  teach  our  children  all  the  sex  relation  we  can, 
so  that  they  may  learn  the  evil  of  its  abuse.  You  seem' 
to  hide  all  sexual  knowledge  from  them.  We  endeavor 
to  make  the  evil  consequences  a  deterrent;  you  en- 
deavor to  make  ignorance  the  safeguard  of  their  virtue. 
The  knowledge  of  a  burn,  and  not  the  ignorance  of  it, 
deters  a  person  from  putting  his  hand  against  a  hot 
stove.  We  act  on  the  assumption  that  a  clear  knowl- 
edge of  sexual  abuse  will  likewise  prevent  that  also. 
This  is  one  great  point  in  our  favor  then.  We  trust  in 
knowledge;  you,  in  ignorance. 

"But  allow  me  to  tell  you  that  there  are  many 
more  bad  features  in  your  marriage  system,  besides 
those  which  I  have  already  mentioned,  not  only  be- 
tween the  male  and  female,  but  between  the    parent 

297  ^  . 


298  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

and  child  also.  From  historical  knowledge  and  from 
the  conduct  of  your  present  savage,  you  know  that 
petty  tribes  are  very  antagonistic  and  usually  at  war 
with  each  other;  that  an  individual  of  such  a  tribe,  who 
is  confined  to  his  limited  tribal  territory,  has  little,  if 
any,  lofty  humanitarian  feelings  for  his  fellowmen  out- 
side of  his  own  tribe.  Your  small  families  have  much 
the  same  effect  on  an  adult,  and  even  more  so  on 
children.  The  child  is  thrown  in  social  contact  only 
with  a  few  brothers  and  sisters,  if  it  has  any,  and  with 
a  few  of  its  very  nearest  neighbors.  This  state  of  things 
gives  a  feeble  opportunity  for  the  development  of 
broad  and  deep  social  feelings,  and  a  lack  of  these  feel- 
ings produces  these  petty  antagonisms,  strifes,  negli- 
gence and  jealousies,  of  which  there  still  exists  so 
much  on  earth.  A  large  family,  wide  and  close  associ- 
ation and  co-operation,  aided  by  splendid  intercommu- 
nication, as  we  have  them  on  Mars,  unfold  these  higher 
and  nobler  faculties  of  man,  but  especially  of  the  child. 
Thus  the  pettiness,  engendered  by  man  on  earth,  is,  no 
doubt,  largely  due  to  your  jealous  marriage  system  and 
your  small  families;  these  have,  in  my  opinion,  also  been 
the  cause  of  your  parental  narrowness  and  jealousy; 
for,  as  a  rule,  a  parent  here,  from  what  I  can  see,  finds 
as  yet  little  pleasure  in  helping  to  nurse  and  care  for 
your  helpless  children,  unless  they  happen  to  be  their 
parents. 

"With  natural  and  highly  developed  parental  func- 
tions, a  father  loves  a  child  more  as-  a  child;  a  mother 
loves  it  more  as  my  child.  Thus  a  father,  under  free- 
dom, finds  more  pleasure  in  and  is  best  fitted  for  provid- 
ing for  the  ge?ieral  wants  of  c/it7drcn ;  while  the  mother, 
furnishing  the  nourishment  for  the  infant,  is  best  fitted 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  299 

to  provide  the  particular  wants  of  her  child.  Under 
these  conditions  all  children,  in  all  places,  find  fathers 
and  mothers;  and  the  pleasvirable  feelings,  resulting 
from  the  administration  of  parental  cares,  is,  in  the  case 
of  man,  the  same  as  in  the  case  of  other  organisms,  ulti- 
mately the  only  incentive  which  prompts  a  parent  to 
act  toward  the  offspring. 

"Other  evils  are,  many  of  your  girls  have  to  work 
out  for  little  or  nothing,  w^e  may  say.  Their  labor  is 
often  very  toilsome  and  disagreeable.  The  days  are 
long.  The  landlady,  and  often  the  landlord  too,  are 
abusive,  cruel,  and  sometimes  lustful.  The  social  re- 
lations with  the  family  is  often  like  a  slave.  The  girl 
is  often  not  permitted  to  spend  her  few  leisure  minutes 
in  the  family  parlor.  She  is,  so  to  speak,  a  social  out- 
cast. She  belongs  to  a  different  caste.  There  is  a  boss 
who  looks  upon  her  as  an  inferior  creature  wherever 
she  goes.  Under  such  a  cruel,  disagreeable,  social  and 
industrial  system,  it  is  no  wonder  that  many  of  your 
ladies  marry  very  young  and  become  mothers  pre- 
maturely. It  is  very  natural  that  an  inexperienced  girl, 
placed  in  such  deplcjrable  conditions,  will  accept,  in 
marriage,  most  any  man  that  comes  along  and  at  most 
any  age,  too.  To  be  sure,  the  conditions,  in  an  average, 
are  not  better  but  even  worse,  when  married  than  when 
single;  but  the  youth,  in  his  love  and  under  his  social 
and  industrial  burden,  does  not  see  that.  One  who  is 
burdened  and  in  slavery  will  try  most  any  scheme  but 
the  right  one,  to  throw  it  off  and  be  free. 

"  Again,  look  what  a  slave  your  traveling  woman  is. 
Perhaps  she  has  a  baby  or  two  and  other  necessaries 
to  carry  and  care  for,  but  a  gentleman  is  hardly  safe  to 
offer  his  services,  because  one  can  not  tell  but  what  a 


300  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

jealous  husband  may  come  around  the  corner,  who  will 
begin  a  suit  against  a  person  for  alienating  the  affec- 
tions of  his  wife,  or  he  may  draw  a  revolver  on  you  for 
being  intimate,  as  he  calls  it,  with  his  wife  and  child. 
And  the  jealousy  of  your  women  is  just  the  same. 

"  Any  man  or  woman,  with  us,  may  freely  assist  any 
woman,  whether  traveling  or  not.  Any  one  may  carry 
her  babe  or  parcel,  if  the  lady  is  satisfied.  No  partic- 
ular man  owns  her,  and  therefore  she  is  as  free  to 
accept  services  from  one  man  as  from  another, 

"  Notice  how  distant  and  unsociable  your  men  and 
women  are  when  traveling,  especially  in  railroad  cars. 
Rarely  do  they  speak  to  each  other.  Instead  of 
having  a  good,  sociable  time,  they  generally  all  sit  like 
mummies.  The  lady  seems  to  fear  the  wrath  of  a  jeal- 
ous husband  or  beau,  and  the  gentleman  of  a  jealous 
wife  or  sweetheart.  Your  travelers  act  much  like  as  if 
the  Creator  had  decreed  that  sexual  sociability  were  an 
unpardonable  offense  and  that  it  is  dangerous  and  im- 
pure for  a  strange  lady  and  gentleman  to  converse  to- 
gether. They  seem  to  assume  that  all  men  are  ravish- 
ers  and  all  women  are  grown-up  babies;  and  the  actual 
facts  of  your  marriage  system  has,  no  doubt,  to  a  great 
extent  established  and  confirmed  this  fear,  which  be- 
comes very  plain,  I  think, when  we  remember  that  your 
primitive  ancestors,  perhaps,  first  instituted  your  sys- 
tem of  marriage  by  capturing  their  wife  or  wives. 

"  When  the  Marsites  travel  or  walk  or  are  at  strange 
houses  they  are  just  as  sociable  and  talkative  to 
strangers  as  to  acquaintances.  A  gentleman  converses 
with  a  strange  lady  the  same  as  he  does  with  an 
acquaintance,  or  as  he  would  with  another  gentleman. 
We  have  no  formality  outside   of  the  individual.     But 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  3OI 

we  always  make  it  a  point  to  act  as  pleasantly  and  so- 
ciably as  if  we  had  been  living  together  for  years.  Any 
two  or  more  men  or  women,  who  may  wish,  may  sit 
together  in  the  cars,  may  converse  together,  may  assist 
each  other,  may  go  to  entertainments  together,  may 
walk  or  ride  together,  or  may  invite  each  other.  This 
is  all  left  to  suit  the  taste  of  the  individual.  He  is 
the  supreme  authority. 

"  Let  us  look  at  your  married  ladies  when  at  a  so- 
cial gathering;  we  will  say  at  a  common  dance.  The 
wife  is  very  likely  a  mother,  and  has  perhaps  an  infant 
babe  to  care  for.  According  to  your  present  social 
habits,  the  married  man  who  is  in  the  habit  of  taking 
his  wife  to  a  dance  is  not  unlikely  to  indulge  in  intox- 
icating liquor.  He  takes  his  wife  and  child  in  one 
apartment,  while  he  not  infrequently  goes  to  another, 
where  he  perhaps  indulges  in  smoking  and  drinking. 
It  often  happens  that  he  becomes  more  or  less  intoxi- 
cated, and  sometimes  even  gets  very  drunk.  His  wife 
during  all  this  time  is  perhaps  sitting  in  the  same 
place,  on  an  old  bench  or  chair,  taking  care  of  the 
baby.  No  man  hardly  dares  to  converse  with  her,  or 
ask  her  to  take  the  baby  a  while,  so  that  she  may 
dance  if  she  wishes  or  otherwise  amuse  herself  by  go- 
ing about;  for  her  husband,  whom  she  has  promised  to 
obey,  might  at  any  time  come  with  a  glass  of  wine  for 
his  wife,  to  which  he  sometimes  treats  her,  as  he  calls 
it.  In  this  manner  he  '  taffies  '  her  a  little.  He  often 
seemingly  tries  to  make  it  appear  that  he  is  generous 
and  charitable;  for,  as  a  rule,  you  esteem  generosity  and 
charity  far  greater  virtues  than  you  esteem  justice.  It 
seems  to  me  that  you  are  trying  to  raise  your  women 
on  crumbs  of  c/iarity,  instead  of  having  them  grow  vig- 


302  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

orous  on  justice.  Charity,  as  a  whole,  is  an  evil,  for  it 
tends  to  make  a  person  more  dependent;  justice  makes 
one  more  self-reliant.  Probably  the  husband,  who 
brings  his  wife  a  glass  of  wine  under  the  pretense  of 
generosity,  spends  more  than  half  of  her  money  to 
buy  his  tobacco,  cigars  and  whisky  with.  All  the 
woman  wants  is  freedom  and  equal  opportunity  with  the 
man.  She  should  be  free  and  should  receive  all  the 
'  money'  she  actually  earns  and  handle  it  herself.  That 
is  justice  and  nothing  more.  That  is  what  justly 
belongs  to  her,  and  if  she  does  not  get  it  she  is  un- 
justly robbed  of  it. 

"Just  think,  the  husband  with  his  glass  of  wine  often 
feels  himself  insulted  if  he  finds  some  man  talking  to 
his  wife,  and  if  he  would  find  some  other  man  nursing 
the  baby  and  still  another  man  dancing  with  his  wife 
he  often  goes  into  a  rage.  He  does  not  keep  his  wife's 
company  nor  does  he  want  other  men  to  do  it.  If 
things  do  not  just  suit  him,  he  puts  on  his  jealous  pout, 
which  sometimes  lasts  for  a  whole  week  and  some- 
times even  much  longer. 

"The  wife  is  nearly  always  just  as  much  of  a  jealous 
pout  as  the  husband  and  often  much  more  so;  but  the 
woman  is  nearly  always  more  of  a  slave,  because  she  is 
more  confined  with  little  children.  Your  matrimony 
very  often  produces  cold  husbands,  and  no  other  man, 
even  if  he  would  like  to  assist  in  caring  for  her  child, 
is,  as  a  rule,  allowed  to  do  so.  These  are  largely  the 
conditions  of  your  man  and  wife  in  your  marriage  sys- 
tem. It  is  generally  slavery  all  around.  Of  course,  I 
am  well  aware  that  some  married  men  and  women  en- 
joy quite  a  degree  of  individual  freedom,  but  they  are 
rather  t'  e  exceptions  than  the  rule. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  303 

"Again,  let  us  suppose  that  two  married  couple 
would  go  on  a  pleasure  trip.  They  are  riding  on  the 
cars.  The  husband  and  wife  have  perhaps  been  to- 
gether for  years;  they  have  told  each  other  all  the  news 
they  know  of.  They  have  nothing  new  to  talk  about. 
But  if  any  friend  would  sit  in  the  seat  with  my  wife, 
and  I  would  sit  with  his  wife,  we  would  all  have  some- 
thing new  to  talk  about  and  pass  the  time  pleasantly. 
But,  as  a  rule,  men  and  women  on  earth  are  too  jealous 
for  that.  Hence  it  is  that  we  often  find  a  man  and  a 
woman  sitting  together  in  the  same  seat  in  a  car  or 
elsewhere,  the  husband  looking  one  direction  and  the 
wife  the  opposite  direction,  not  speaking  to  each  other 
for  hours  at  a  time.  If  you  are  an  observer,  you  can 
see  this  in  nearly  every  car  in  which  you  may  happen 
to  be  riding." 

"Does  not  the  population  of  the  human  race,  under 
sexual  freedom  increase  more  rapidly  than  it  does 
under  our  system  of  marriage?"  asked  Viola,  who 
seemed  to  have  mentally  stored  away  every  word  of 
Mr.  Midith's  narrative  concerning  their  sexual  rela- 
tions. 

"No;  it  is  just  the  opposite,  as  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer 
in  his  biology  has  so  forcibly  foreshadowed  when  he 
says:  'The  excess  of  fertility  has  itself  rendered  the 
process  of  civilization  inevitable;  and  the  process  of 
civilization  must  inevitably  diminish  fertility  and  at 
last  destroy  its  excess.'  As  a  whole,  the  higher  and 
the  more  complex  the  being,  the  fewer  the  offspring. 
You  see  this  is  one  point,  but  there  are  others  besides 
this  one. 

"Under  your  marriage  system,  in  which  the  man 
largely   runs   the   sexual   affairs,  a   wife   often   is  the 


304  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

mother  of  from  six  to  twelve  children,  and  not  infre- 
quently a  number  of  them  are  unwelcome  and  would 
not  have  been  born  if  the  mother  had  been  free  and 
independent  in  all  directions. 

"Our  women,  who  are  all  perfectly  free  and  inde- 
pendent in  every  sense  of  the  word,  have  now,  in  an 
average,  between  two  and  three  children.  A  Marsite 
lady  is  seldom  a  mother  of  more  than  three  children. 
In  this  manner  a  high  state  of  civilization,  mental  cult- 
ure and  sexual  freedom  have  at  last  established  an  al- 
most complete  equilibrium  between  births  and  deaths. 
Our  population  is  now  nearly  stationary.  A  family  or 
community,  in  an  average,  increases  or  decreases  very 
little,  if  any,  in  population.  Every  child  that  is  born 
has  an  abode  ready  to  receive  it  when  born.  It  re- 
ceives parental  care,  and  it  in  turn  gives  parental  care 
when  older,  whether  it  be  a  parent  or  not.  It,  thereby, 
simply  pays  during  the  age  of  youth  and  manhood  for 
what  it  received  during  its  infancy.  And  every  day 
that  it  labors  it  is  paying  for  its  abode. 

"I  have  here  endeavored  to  give  you  a  brief  and 
truthful  explanation  and  comparison  of  our  sexual 
freedom  and  of  your  matrimony.  I  hav^e  pointed  out, 
as  I  see  them,  a  few  demerits  and  disadvantages  of 
your  marriage  for  life,  but  I  can  see  countless  other 
faults  too  numerous,  in  this  brief  narrative,  even  to 
mention.  It  is  already  growing  late,  and  I  shall  make 
only  a  few  further  suggestions  without  any  explana- 
tions, which  I  hope  you  will  give  some  thought  and 
consideration  when  you  are  at  leisure  on  some  future 
occasion. 

"Have  you  ever  considered  what  causes  your  in- 
tense  blind  jealousy,  and  how  shallow  and  silly  it  is? 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  305 

Have  you  ever  considered  how  many  of  your  husbands 
and  wives  poison  or  otherwise  kill   each  other?    Have 
you  ever  considered  what  is    the    principal    cause    of 
your  coarse,  vulgar  language  that  can  be  heard   most 
any  place?  Have  you  ever  attempted  to  find  the  cause 
for  having  so  many  'bad-tempered'  children    that   are 
continually  growing    up    and    become    your  so-called 
mean    men   and  women?   You  are  all  well  aware  what 
an    immense    amount    of     trashy  fiction,   lustful    love 
stories  are  annually   read,  especially  by  your   ladies; 
think  for  a  moment,  if  you  can  not  find  the  cause  for 
this.      Do    you     not     think    that    sexual     constraint, 
which  causes  an  unsatisfied  sexual  novelty,  gives  vent 
to  sensual  novel-reading?     Have  you   ever  considered 
how  many  men  and  women  live  together  as  husband 
and  wife,  who  scarcely  ever  speak  a  kind,  friendly  word 
to  each  other?     Have  you  ever  considered  what  a  bad 
effect  this  has  on  the  children  who    are    reared    under 
such  domestic  ipfluences?     Have  you  ever  endeavored 
to   discover  what  causes   the  diseased   condition  and 
feeble  constitution  of  nearly  all  your  children  at  birth, 
or  even  during  their    pre-natal    life?     Have   you    ever 
considered  what  causes  the  unsatisfied  sexual   novelty 
in  both  your  men  and   women?     Have   you  ever  con- 
sidered how  little  care  and  attention  a  married  mother, 
who  is  crowded   with  other  domestic  burdens,  can  be- 
stow  on    her    infant    babe?     Have  you   ever  contem- 
plated what  a  bad  social  effect  the  idea  of  each  parent 
caring  for  his  own  offspring  only  has  on  society?  Have 
you  ever  considered  how  little  conditions  can  be  suited 
for  the  rearing  of  children  in  a  society  in  which  each 
married  couple  live  together  in  a  little  house   either  in 

a  crowded  city  or  in  a  lonely  country?     Have  you  ever 
20 


306  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

thought  how  much  lying,  deceit  and  underhand  work 
is  practiced  between  many  a  husband  and  wife  because 
of  their  marital  constraint?  Have  you  ever  thought 
how  many  men  and  women  are  married  for  life  who 
are  entirely  unsuited  in  temperament  and  in  disposi- 
tion? Did  you  ever  think  how  much  pouting  and  ill- 
feeling,  how  many  quarrels  and  fights  there  are  in 
married  life  all  over  your  world.  I  suppose  you  have 
noticed  the  continual  increase  of  your  divorces.  Have 
you  noticed  that  divorces  are  most  numerous  in  those 
vocations  in  which  women  are  most  independent  finan- 
cially, such  as  actresses,  etc.?  Do  }'ou  know  what  that 
means?  Have  you  ever  thought  how  much  ill-feeling 
yoursectarianism  andpartyism  causes  between  husband 
and  wife?  Have  you  ever  thought  how  repugnant, 
burdensome,  and  fatal  to  life  and  health  it  is  for  a 
woman  to  live  a  sexually  intemperate  life?  Your 
statistics  show  that  your  fallen  women  live  their  life  of 
sin,  in  an  average,  less  than  three  years,  so  disagree- 
able is  a  life  of  sexual  intemperance  to  a  woman;  yet 
in  wedlock,  the  man  largely  runs  the  sexual  affairs  to 
suit  his  o\\  n  perverted  taste.  Have  you  ever  thought 
how  often  a  man  or  a  woman  when  married  have  to  do 
something  that  is  disagreeable  to  the  one  orto  the  other? 
One  wants  to  go  to  church,  the  other  does  not;  one 
w'ants  to  go  to  a  neighbor,  the  other  does  not;  one 
wants  the  child  baptized,  the  other  does  not,  etc. 
Have  you  ever  thought  how  much  room  and  oppor- 
tunity there  is  for  aggressiveness  when  two  are  in- 
dissolubly  bound  together  for  life?  Have  you  ever 
thought  that  your  women  have  no  public  places  to  go 
to?  Your  men,  who  handle  the  money,  build  saloons, 
club-rooms,  etc.,  for  themselves,   but  they  rarely  ever 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  3O7 

invest  a  nickel  in  a  public  building  for  the  women  and 
children.     The  church    seems  to    be    the  only    public 
place  your  women  can  go  to,  and  when  they  are  there 
they  have  to  be   silent, .so  that  they  can  not  exchange 
ideas  with  one  another -there.     Have  you  ever  thought 
why  you  have  so  many  more  ladies  in  your  churches 
than  you  have  men?     Do  you  think  this  would  be  the 
case    if   women  were   free  and   independent    like    our 
ladies  are?     I   presume  you  have  all  noticed  that  your 
ladies  have  a  great  desire  for  personal  ornaments,  for 
unique  decorations,  for  expensive,  gaudy  costumes,  for 
elaborate  hair  dressing,  face  powder,  etc.-,  and   for  a 
continuous  change    of  fashion.     These  characteristics 
are  apparently  much  more  strongly  developed  in  your 
women  than  in  your  men.     In  the  lower  animals,  the 
male  is  almost  invariable  the  gaudiest,  the  most  decor- 
ative.    Why  do  you  think  there  is  an  apparent  excep- 
tion injw^r  human  race?     Remember,  not  in  ours.     In 
our  world,  the  human  family  is   no  more  an  exception 
to  this  rule  like  it  once  was  and  like  your  human  being 
is  at  present.     Your  exception  to  this  rule,  I  think,  is 
easily  accounted  for.     Let  us  see  if  we   can  find  the 
cai(se. 

"According  to  your  courting  and  marriage  custom, 
your  suitor  goes  to  see  his  sweetheart  ivJiciievcr  he 
wishes  and  ivlierever  he  wishes;  but  your  sweetheart  is 
not  permitted  to  seek  her  choice  by  going  to  see  him. 
She  can  only  attract  her  suitors  principally  by  her  per- 
sonal appearance,  by  her  attire  when  she  goes  to 
church,  to  the  theater,  on  the  street  or  when  she  looks 
out  of  the  window  and  is  gazed  upon  by  the  passer-by, 
etc.  She  is  not  free  to  go  and  display  her  winsome 
characteristics  before  the  man  she  may  love  most,  like 


308  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

the  man  does  before  the  woman  he  loves  most.  Hence 
she  is  at  a  great  disadvantage  in  showing  her  intrinsic 
worth,  so  she  has  to  rely  mainly  on  outward  appear- 
ance, and  this  outward  appearance  is  often  very  decep- 
tive, very  shallow,  so  that  your  men,  who  dictate  to 
your  women,  are  often  caught  in  their  own  traps.  Your 
men,  cither  consciously  or  unconsciously,  enslave  your 
women  by  robbing  them  of  their  freedom  and;  by  this 
act  of  robbery  the  man  indirectly  enslaves  himself.  If 
your  women,  like  ours,  were  free  in  every  sense  of  the 
word — free  financially,  socially,  industrially  and  sexu- 
ally they  would  rely  on  the  natural  attractiveness  of  a 
healthy,  handsome  face  and  body,  on  a  graceful  form 
and  intrinsic  worth;  instead  of  relying,  as  they  now  do, 
on  gaudy  outward  attire,  twisted  hair,  small,  uncomfort- 
able shoes,  tightly  laced  corsets,  and  a  long,  trailing 
dress.  All  this  display  of  unnatural  costumes  and  con- 
tinuous change  of  fashion  requires  an  immense  amount 
of  labor,  which  has  to  be  performed  by  the  man  as  well 
as  by  the  woman.  In  this  manner,  by  uncomfortable 
costumes,  by  sexual  intemperance  and  by  the  burdens 
of  labor  resulting  from  them,  your  men,  as  well  as  your 
women,  enslave  themselves. 

"You  must  not  infer  from  what  I  have  said  that  the 
Marsites  do  not  appreciate  fine  clothes;  on  the  con- 
trary, we  are  always  richly  dressed,  but  comfort  and 
cljanliness  have  great  precedence  over  anything  else. 
Under  the  head  of  education,  I  will  tell  you  more  about 
our  clothing  and  our  manner  of  dress. 

"  I  am  well  aware  that  many  of  your  people  will  be 
lieve  that  what  I  have  told  you  is  a  dangerous  doctrine, 
that  it  is  not  in  accord  with   an  orderly  society  and  is 
detrimental  to   progress;    but  this   false  belief  of  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  3O9 

masses  is  nothing  new  or  nothing  strange,  as  I  have 
hinted  at  before.  In  the  first  place,  I  have  given  you 
just  what  we  ah'eady  have  on  Mars,  an  older  planet 
than  the  earth  is;  and,  in  the  second  place,  the  masses 
of  mankind  have  always  at  first  mistrusted  and  con- 
demned every  measure  of  progress.  A  few  illustrations 
will  make  this  plain. 

"  During  the  last  few  centuries  thousands  of  polit- 
ical enthusiasts  have  been  murdered,  legally  and  other- 
wise, for  proposing  and  advocating  the  principles  of  a 
republican  government,  something  like  the  present  one 
of  the  United  States.  The  masses  of  the  people  a  few 
centuries  ago  believed  that  such  a  government  would 
produce  nothing  but  social  and  civil  chaos;  but  the 
masses  of  your  contemporaries  believe  that  it  is  just 
the  government,  and  will  do  all  they  can  to  suppress  all 
who  are  now  proposing  a  better  one — one  that  will  fur- 
nish more  individual  freedom  and  equality,  one  that 
will  mete  out  justice  instead  of  charity. 

"  Your  so-called  freedom  of  speech  and  freedom  of 
the  press  was  severely  condemned  by  every  govern- 
ment on  earth  only  a  few  years  ago.  But  to-day  you 
would  fight  for  its  preservation. 

"  Only  a  few  years  ago  the  masses  of  the  Christian 
world  believed  that  the  so-called  separation  of  church 
and  state  would  produce  irreparable  social  and  spiritual 
degeneration,  but  on  trial  you  find  it  much  better  and 
more  humane  than  the  old  practice  of  intolerance. 

"Less  than  fifty  years  ago  the  vast  majority  of  the 
people  of  the  United  States  believed  that  the  United 
States  could  not  prosper  without  the  institution  of 
chattel  slavery;  but  upon  trial  you  found  that  it  is 
more  prosperous  now  than    it   ever  was   before;  that 


310  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

both  the  master  and  the  slave  were  benefited  by  abol- 
ishing it.  So  in  all  other  cases  wherever  we  or  you 
have  granted  a  wider  scope  of  individual  freedom  and 
equality,  we  have  at  last  found  what  we  have  been 
seeking  for.  So  you  will,  in  the  near  future,  find  it  to 
be  with  the  sex  relation.  It  is  one  of  the  slaveries 
which  must  be  abolished  before  social  harmony  can 
reign.  No  non-invasive  person  can  be  tnily  happy 
without  being  absolutely  free.  The  individual  must  be 
the  ultimate  judge  6i  his  own  acts,  likes  and  dislikes, 
and  the  testimony  of  history  confirms  the  fact  that  the 
more  freedom  the  individual  has  been  allowed  or  has 
asked  for,  the  better  has  been  his  conduct.  The  more 
he  has  been  constrained,  the  fiercer  he  has  been.  All 
aggressiveness  must  be  banished  from  the  human  mind 
before  there  can  be  complete  social,  industrial  and 
sexual  harmony.  Vice  perishes  under  freedom  and 
true  virtue  can  not  flourish  under  slavery." 

"Those  are  all  grand  principles,"  said  Mr.  Uwins  as 
Mr.  Midith  had  finished.  "They  are  perfectly  clear  to 
me  now.  I  see  through  them  from  beginning  to  end, 
and  I  have  seen  them  more  or  less  clearly  for  years, 
but  I  have  never  been  able  to  propose  and  outline  a 
remedy  for  them;  but  your  social  and  industrial  system 
does  completely  away  with  all  our  present  evils  that  I 
can  see.  You  enjoy  complete  financial,  social,  indus- 
trial, and  sexual  freedom.  Of  course  the  masses  of  our 
people  are  not  yet  ripe  for  living  such  high  and  noble 
and  pure  lives.  But  I  think  that  we  have  to-day  more 
than  ten  thousand  of  our  foremost  cultivated  and 
thoughtful  men  and  women  in  the  United  States,  that 
are  able  to  live  nearly  such  high  lives  as  your  Marsites 
do,  and  we  are  all  slowly  tending  that  way.     Jealousy 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  31 1 

and  aggressiveness  gradually  grow  weaker  and  weaker 
and  we  gradually  learn  more  and  more  that  we  can  be 
truly  happy  only  by  living  in  accord  with  the  phe- 
nomena of  the  universe." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

EDUCATION. 

When  Viola  and  Midith  returned  from  the  posi 
office  on  their  bicycles  the  following  evening,  Mr. 
Midith's  countenance  seemed  to  be  unusually  bright 
and  happy.  After  putting  up  their  bicycles,  they 
walked  into  the  parlor  where  the  other  members  of 
the  family  and  a  number  of  visitors,  curious  to  see  Mr. 
Midith,  were  assembled. 

After  the  formal  introduction  Mr.  Midith  said: 

"I  have  received  some  very  favorable  correspond- 
ence from  a  number  of  scientists  at  San  Francisco,  who 
seem  to  favor  an  extensive  search  for  my  lost  pro- 
jectile which  lodged  in  the  Pacific  ocean  at  my  arrival 
here  on  earth.  I  have  already  had  some  dredging 
done  without  success,  but  my  income  is  not  sufficient 
to  get  much  of  that  kind  of  work  done.  To  dredge  in 
a  deep  ocean  requires  skill  and  tools.  The  men  at 
San  Francisco  who  put  the  project  of  dredging  on  foot 
will  notify  me  of  their  financial  success. 

"If  we  shall  succeed  in  finding  my  lost  projectile,  I 
shall  be  able  to  show  you  many  curious  relics  of  Mars, 
which  I  took  along  to  show  to  the  mundane  inhabit- 
ants and  compare  them  with  what  you  have  here.  I 
took  along  quite  a  large  collection  of  things  that 
would  be  curiosities   to   you.     I  recollect  puttiitg  in  a 

little    printed    book,    a    knife,  a  watch,  a  little  pocket 

:!12 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  313 

microscope,  a  tiny  phonograph,  a  pen  and  pencil,  a 
very  powerful  little  telescope,  a  photograph  of  a  big- 
house,  a  bird's-eye  view  of  our  neighborhood,  a  lady's 
and  a  gentleman's  suit  of  clothes,  some  Marsian  fruit, 
grain,  nuts,  flowers  and  many  other  things  that  will  be 
of  interest  to  you. 

"If  our  search  for  my  projectile  proves  successful,  I 
can  perhaps  get  sufficient  mechanical  assistance  to  re- 
turn to  my  native  home  or  establish  communication 
between  the  earth  and  Mars.  I  think  the  projectile  is 
not  much  out  of  repair.  It  worked  splendidly  until  it 
entered  the  dense  atmosphere  near  the  earth's  surface. 
I  wish  that  I  would  be  able,  in  the  future,  to  show  you 
some  of  the  social  and  industrial  grandeur  and  har- 
mony of  my  native  world.  I  shall  make  every  health- 
ful effort  that  lies  within  my  reach  to  return  to  my  na- 
tive home,  and  establish  intercommunication  between 
the  earth  and  Mars.  But  if  I  do  not  succeed  in  that,  I 
must  be  content  with  my  lot  on  earth;  perhaps  I  may 
be  of  some  use  to  the  earthly  inhabitants,  so  that  my 
journey  may  be  of  some  value  in  that  direction. 

"All  we  can  do  is  to  wait  for  further  development. 
The  Marsites  have  learned  ages  ago  that  we  can  not 
transcend  the  phenomena  of  nature.  The  burdens 
which  our  highest  intelligence  and  our  best  healthful 
efforts  can  not  throw  off  must  be  borne.  I  am  sure 
that  I  appreciate  your  kind  hospitality  as  much  as  this 
world  can  furnish  at  this  age.  Your  kindness  and  the 
smiling  faces  with  which  I  have  been  surrounded  while  I 
have  been  with  you  shall  always  be  prominent  in  my 
mind,  whether  I  shall  have  to  end  my  days  on  earth,  or, 
whether  I  shall  be  able,  in  the  future,  to  return  to  my 
native  world." 


314  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"I  wish  }-ou  nothing  bad,  Mr.  Midith,  but  unless  you 
are  able  to  take  all  of  us  with  you  to  Mars,  I  hope 
that  you  will  not  be  able  to  return,"  said  Viola  with  a 
mischievous  smile.  "By  your  brilliant  narrative  of 
Mars,  you  have  made  our  earth  appear  so  cruel,  rude 
and  superstitious,  and  then  you  are  going  to  leave  us. 
No,  we  will  never  stand  it!" 

"I  am  sure  the  prospect  of  my  returning  is  not  any 
too  bright  yet,"  responded  Mr.  Midith. 

"Now,  Mr.  Midith,  you  have  told  us  nothing  about 
your  schools.  It  seems  to  me  that  in  order  to  produce 
such  perfect  men,  women  and  children,  you  must  have, 
faultless  system  of  education,"  observed  Mrs.  Uwins. 
"All  your  other  institutions  seem  so  much  superior  to 
ours,  and  your  school  system  must  certainly  be  more 
so  than  any  other,  for  education,  in  its  widest  sense, 
constitutes  the  only  difference  between  the  savage  and 
the  cultivated  person." 

"We  have  no  school  system,  neither  public  nor 
parochial,  as  you  have,  nor  do  we  have  a  school-house, 
as  you  know  a  school-house.  We  believe  that  a  school 
system  like  yours  is  unjust  and  despotic  to  those  who 
are  compelled  to  support  it  by  compulsory  taxation; 
and  we  further  believe  that  it  is  very  cruel  and  harm- 
ful to  the  pupils  to  compel  them  to  attend  any  institu- 
tion that  they  do  not  wish  to.  We  believe  that  a  sys- 
tem of  education  like  yours  does  little  or  no  good,  but 
causes  an  immense  amount  of  evil,  which  we  will  con- 
sider further  on. 

"Our  children,  like  our  adults,  are  perfectly  free, 
are  not  compelled  to  do  anything  they  do  not  wish  to 
do.  We  do  not  try  to  compel  them  to  be  good,  nor  to 
work,  nor  to  attend  school  against  their  wishes.    We  think 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  315 

that  any  act  which  is  so  repugnant  to  human  nature, 
jiiidcr  rigJit  conditions,  that  exhortation  and  the  reward  of 
its  agreeable  consequences  cannot  induce  a  man  or  a 
woman  or  a  child  to  perform  that  act  without  the  ap- 
plication of  physical  force,  is  not  worth  doing;  it  must 
be  unnatural. 

"The  only  object  of  education  is  to  discover  truth, 
so  that  we  may  be  able  to  live  in  accord  with  the  facts 
of  the  universe,  the  only  possible  condition  under 
which  we  can  enjoy  the  greatest  happiness;  for  every 
violation  of  a  natural  function  is  a  violation  of  a 
natural  law,  and  every  violation  of  a  natural  law  is 
attended  with  suffering;  therefore  we  should  be  edu- 
cated. To  enjoy  the  greatest  happiness  and  to  avoid 
all  misery  should  be  the  end  and  aim  of  all  education. 
And  that  system  of  education  which  accomplishes  this 
end  most  completely  is  the  best  system.  Therefore, 
one  who  possesses  information  which  enables  him  to 
live  most  completely  in  harmony  with  the  laws  of 
nature  is  in  the  true  sense  most  highly  educated. 

"We  believe  that  in  the  widest  sense  and  in  the 
only  true  sense,  the  whole  world  should  be  the  school- 
house,  mankind  the  pupils,  our  environment  the 
teacher,  the  entire  life  of  man  the  school  age,  and  the 
phenomenal  universe  the  curriculum. 

"With  these  few  preliminary  remarks,  I  think  I 
shall  be  able  to  give  you  a  clear  idea  of  our  schools 
and  our  methods  of  teaching. 

"The  child's  education  with  us  begins  long  anterior 
to  its  pre-natal  existence.  The  parents'  smiles,  virtues 
and  temper  reappear  in  the  child  after  its  birth.  After 
birth  the  child's  direct  education  begins;  but  during  the 
period  of  lactation  it  is  both   direct  and  indirect.     The 


3l6  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

first  nursery  and  school  of  tile  child,  then,  is  the  inter- 
nal mother's  bosom,  then  the  mother's  arms,  then  the 
house  nurseries,  then  the  outdoor  nurseries,  and  then  in 
the  whole  community  and  in  the  whole  world.  In  this 
manner  its  sphere  of  action  is  constantly  enlarged.  It 
continually  acquires  more  independence,  and  hence  a 
stronger  self-reliance.  During  all  its  life  it  is  sur- 
rounded by  adults  and  by  children  of  various  ages,  who 
teach  it  by  pleasant  precepts  and  examples. 

"Our  children  are  taught  as  early  as  possible  and 
nearly  altogether  by  the  examples  of  the  youths  and 
adults,  how  to  treat  their  fellowmen;  how  to  be  kind; 
how  to  give  equal  rights  to  all;  how  to  respect  the 
opinions  of  others;  how  to  lay  aside  all  jealousy  and 
prejudice;  how  to  welcome  peace  and  harmony,  and 
how  to  avoid  discord;  how  to  extinguish  all  feeling  of 
aggressiveness;  how  to  control  their  temper;  how  to 
keep  themselves  clean  and  pure;  how  to  develop  their 
organs  by  healthful  exercise;  how  to  be  honest  and 
truthful;  how  to  preserve  their  health;  how  to  exercise 
in  the  open  air  and  sunshine;  how  to  eat  and  drink 
properly;  how  to  be  orderly  and  form  regular  habits; 
how  to  dress  in  accordance  with  comfort  and  health; 
how  to  honor  productiv^e  labor  and  how  to  make  it 
agreeable;  how  to  despise  idleness,  and  how  to  value  life 
and  health  above  all  other  things  necessary  for  the 
acquisition  of  the  greatest  happiness. 

"  The  rudiments  of  all  these  facts  are  taught  by  the 
older  members  of  the  family  and  are  learned  by  the 
child  when  quite  young.  In  these  pleasant  schools  or 
play-houses,  the  teachers  and  children  talk  and  play, 
laugh  and  sing,  eat  and  drink,  observe  and  investigate, 
promote  happiness  and  avoid  pain".     One  moment  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  317 

child  is  in  the  house,  the  next  moment  it  is  perhaps  in 
the  yard,  then  in  the  nurseries,  from  there  in  the  parks, 
then  in  the  motor-car,  then  in  the  garden,  field,  and 
orchard;  then  in  the  parlors,  then  in  its  mother's  pri- 
vate apartment,  then  in  its  own  private  apartment,  etc. 
Everywhere  it  finds  a  number  of  willing  and  competent 
teachers.  Teachers,  too,  who  do  not  govern  with  the 
rod,  but  by  arousing  an  agreeable  desire  for  inquiry. 
All  of  us,  young  and  old,  are  always  teachers  and 
pupils  at  the  same  time.  The  older  ones  are  studying 
the  nature  of  infancy  and  childhood,  and  daily  add  to 
their  store  of  knowledge  by  observation  and  experi- 
ence. The  younger  ones  are  kindly  advised  and  then  left 
to  follow  the  conduct  of  the  more  mature  companions. 
Knowledge  is  held  in  such  high  esteem  with  us  that  we 
endeavor  to  acquire  all  we  can  at  any  age,  and  we  also 
find  great  pleasure  in  agreeably  imparting  our  knowl- 
edge to  others  and  especially  to  the  young.  Our  prin- 
cipal aim  in  education  is  always  to  educate  ourselves ; 
to  practice  a  course  of  conduct  that  we  wish  our  chil- 
dren to  imitate.  Our  children  will  be  all  right  without 
any  trouble,  if  ive  are  only  all  right.  The  adults  make 
the  young  what  they  are.  Let  us  not  forget  this  im- 
portant fact,  this  fundamental  principle. 

"As  the  Marsites  need  work  only  a  few  hours  a  day 
for  the  acquisition  of  our  material  subsistence,  we  can 
devote  a  great  deal  of  our  leisure  time  for  mental  cult- 
ure. The  child,  after  its  infancy,  moves  voluntarily 
about  from  place  to  place.  It  finds  advice  and  prac- 
tical instruction  in  the  house,  on  the  walks,  in  the 
parks,  garden,  greenhouse,  orchard  and  field.  After  it 
grows  older  it  takes  lessons  in  the  workshop,  in  the 
factory,  on  the  railroad,  in  the  mine,  or  wherever  else 


3l8  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

it  may  direct  its  course.  All  the  adults  are  its  parents, 
so  to  speak,  its  teachers,  advisers  and  protectors  when 
young;  but  all  teach  that  freedom,  independence  and 
self-reliance  should  be  attained  as  early  as  possible." 

"When  do  you  begin  to  teach  the  alphabet?"  asked 
Rev.  Dudley. 

"At  the  age  of  about  three  years.  ( Remember  that  a 
Marsian  year  counts  for  no  more  in  the  age  of  a  child 
than  an  earthly  year  docs  with  you.)  We  begin  to 
teach  the  elementary  sounds,  the  forms  and  the  names 
of  the  letters  of  the  alphabet  by  attractive  games  of 
object  lessons.  We  have  a  perfect  alphabet,  because  it 
contains  as  many,  and  no  more,  letters  as  we  have  ele- 
mentary sounds.  We  can  spell  every  word  correctly 
when  it  is  pronounced  to  us,  for  we  have  neither  silent 
letters  nor  substitutes.  During  all  these  exercises  the 
child  is  simply  plaN'ing,  and  quits  whenever  it  likes. 

"  The  walls  of  the  nursery  near  the  floor  are  com- 
posed of  slate.  On  these  the  children  first  begin  to 
make  marks  and  figures,  sometimes  before  they  can 
stand. alone.  Children  are  nearly  always  very  fond  of 
drawing  when  left  to  themselves,  and  practice  it  a 
great  deal.  Large  slates  for  printing,  writing,  cipher- 
ing and  drawing  are  also  put  up  in  different  parts  of 
the  parks  and  along  the  walks.  By  these  means  our 
children,  by  playful  practice,  learn  to  print  and  write 
at  an  early  age.  We  always  keep  plenty  of  such 
things  as  children  can  use  before  them,  letting 
them  use  those  things  \\hcncvcr  they  feel  like  it, 
but  never  compelling  a  child  to  use  a  thing  or  do  an 
act  it  finds  no  pleasure  in  doing.  We  endeavor  to  cre- 
ate the  pleasurable  desire,  and  then  let  the  child  follow 
its  inclination.     All  sound-minded   children  possess  a 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDnAI.ISM.  319 

faculty  of  inquiry  which  they  love  to  exercise  if  con- 
dU,o„s^,cr,ght^n&  „at„ral-^ni  if  things  are  presented 
ma  pleasant  manner.  As  long  as  we  cannot  do  things 
naturally  and  present  them  irt  an  attractive  way,  tSe 
fault  l,es  w,th  the  teachers,  and  not  in  the  child 

The  next  thing  we  teach  the  child  is,  how  to  labor 

^the  hfjr  fl'l  ■^°"'  ""  ''^^"'^  pleasurable  only 
^  the  habit  of  laboring  is  acquired  while  we  are  youn  J 
One  vvho  spends  the  first  half  of  his  life  without  man^ 
.al  abor  must  forever,  more  or  less,  remain  a  slave  to  it 
m  after  years.  Therefore,  as  soon  as  the  child  is  old 
enough,  generally  beginning  at  the  age  of  two  and  three 
t  IS  taught  to  wash,  bathe,  dress  and  undress  itself-  to' 

places,  to  change  clothes  and  put  away  its  own  soiled 
garments;  to  brush  and  put  away  its  o„„  clothes  wldr 

are  ,7    '"  "'I'  '"''  '°  ''f  '"■"'"'  ""^  "^^  "''"'  'h°^e  thlt 

child  thT;  11  "?'?."'  '''°"'''  """"^  ^°  ^"y  ""^k  for  the 
chi  d  that  the  child  can  easily  do  for  itself.  After  the 
child  grows  a  little  older,  we  encourage  it  to  do  all  such 
easy  w  ork  ,n  keeping  its  own  apartment  clean  and  tidy  as 
•t  can  easily  do.  Our  aim  is  to  create  a  pleasurable^le- 
sire  for  manual  labor  in  the  child  while  it  is  youn..-  to 

'ZtT  "  T""  '°'  '"'^  -If-support,  self-reliali'ce, 
and  independence;  to  develope  a  keen  appreciation  fo 

tattht  at     "'    r"^-     """"'  y°"  ^^^'  --I'ildren  are 
taught  at  an  early  age  to  do  all  their  work  in  their  own 

private  apartment.     This  strongly  develops  the  facul- 

es  of  order,  promptness,  taste  and  regularity,  which 

tl  ey  take  with  them  into  life;  both  pubUc  and  private 

VnA'Zl  .'   P™'"'^"'  "^'^  ^"-""e^^''  healthiest 

and  most  complete  persons  physically  and  mentally 
Therefore  it  is  the  most  useful  and  practical  lesson  the 


320  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

child  can  learn.  This  lesson,  if  well  learned,  rewards 
every  person,  during  his  natural  life,  with  an  immense 
amount  of  happiness. 

"Now  we  will  turn  to  the  financial  incentive  to  labor. 
I  have  already  remarked  that  a  child,  as  soon  as  born, 
receives  a  book  number  and  is  thereby  represented 
in  the  commercial  department  of  the  family  and  com- 
munity. Before  birth,  as  I  have  already  stated  else- 
where, the  child  receives  from  the  community  a  quan- 
tity oi  green  money,  with  which  the  mother,  father  or 
nurse  pays  all  the  child's  bills.  At  the  age  of  about  five 
or  six  our  children  are  generally  able  to  write  quite  well. 
At  this  age  they  also  begin  to  do  little,  easy  chores — 
such  as  picking  strawberries,  currants,  weeding  small 
patches  of  vegetables  in  the  garden  and  greenhouse,  etc. ; 
also  performing  little  jobs  of  work  in  the  house  and 
elsew^here.  All  this  easy  work  which  children  can  do 
is  so  divided  off  and  paid  for  by  the  piece,  quart,  etc.,  that 
a  child  can  do  it  and  receive  the  same  pay  for  it  as  a 
grown  person  would.  This  encourages  the  children  to 
work,  because  they  are  paid  for  it  as  soon  as  the  money 
is  issued.  Children,  the  same  as  adults,  always  like  to 
receive  and  own  money  which  they  can  handle  to  suit 
themselves.  It  also  encourages  them  to  write,  be- 
cause, under  the  supervision  of  the  mother,  parent,  the 
commercial  librarian,  or  some  one  else,  they  keep  a 
record  of  labor  performed  in  their  time-book.  It  fur- 
ther encourages  them  to  labor,  because,  at  the  end  of 
each  month,  they  receive  additional  money  for  labor 
performed.  Of  course,  the  money  children  receive  for 
labor  performed  is  not  of  a  green  color,  like  that  which 
was  given  them  at  birth.  Children  always  feel  proud 
of  the  idea  that  they  are  big,  that  they  can  support 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  32I 

themselves,  and  that  they  need  not  live  on  greoi  money 
any  longer.  To  handle  a  pocket-book  and  money 
seems  a  big  thing  for  a  child,  and  money  can  be  ob- 
tained only  by  productive  labor;  if  the  child  wants 
money  for  itself  it  has  to  earn  it,  for  we,  as  individuals, 
all  make  a  practice  of  not  giving  any  money  to  chil- 
dren, because  it  tends  to  make  beggars,  idlers  and  de- 
pendent beings  of  them.  All  we  do  is  to  give  them 
plenty  of  fine  opportunity  and  then  let  them  earn  all 
they  want." 

"Do  you  let  young  children  spend  the  money  they 
earn  just  as  they  wish?"  asked  Viola. 

"Certainly  we  do,"  replied  Mr.  Midith.  "We  give 
them  our  best  advice,  our  best  financial  conduct,  and 
then  let  them  do  as  they  see  fit.  You  must  not  forget 
that  the  appetites,  and  hence  the  conduct  of  your 
children,  as  a  whole,  are  vastly  different  from  the  appe- 
tites and  conduct  of  our  children.  Very  likely  your 
children,  if  they  all  at  once  had  plenty  of  money, 
would  at  first  spend  large  sums  for  nicknacks,  and 
many  of  them  get  sick  from  overeating,  because  their 
nicknack-appetite  has  not  been  properly  adjusted. 
Our  children  have  no  particular  appetite  for  nicknacks; 
they  have  all  they  want  during  their  whole  life.  Further, 
the  conditions  for  spending  money  are  altogether  differ- 
ent with  us.  They  can  not  buy  intoxicating  liquor,  be- 
cause we,  like  thousands  of  your  most  thoughtful  men, 
have  learned  that  we  are  better  off  without  intoxicating 
liquor  as  a  beverage,  and  hence  have  no  appetite  for  it, 
and  do  not  manufacture  it.  They  can  not  spend  their 
money  in  sinful  houses,  because  when  money  is  so  plen- 
tiful and  so  easily  obtained,  nobody  vsill  sell  the  use  of 

her  person  for  dissolute  puroo.'xs.     Thcv  can  not  Iosq 
21 


322  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

it  in  option  deals,  because  we  have  no  board  of  trade, 
nor  speculators  of  any  kind.  They  do  not  wish  to  use 
it  to  buy  houses  and  land  with,  because  they  have  all 
of  them  they  want,  etc." 

"  But  do  you  not  admonish  your  children  to  save 
their  money — to  lay  up  some  for  old  age?"  asked  Rev. 
Dudley. 

"  No,  we  admonish  no  one  to  save  money.  Our 
aim  is  not  to  grow  rich  on  frugality,  but  on  abiaidaiice 
of  production.  Yo?i  esteem  frugality  as  a  high  virtue, 
which  may  perhaps  be  all  right  under  your  perverted 
financial,  social  and  industrial  system.  Our  aim  is  to 
open  up  natural  opportunity  and  make  production  by 
voluntary  co-operation  and  mechanical  appliances  so 
abundant  that  frugality  is  unnecessary.  Under  these 
conditions,  we  can  produce  all  the  material  wealth  we 
want  in  a  few  hours  of  labor  a  day.  The  American 
Indian,  with  his  primitive  habits,  can  not  grow  rich  by 
frugality  and  his  very  limited  production;  but,  by  a 
change  of  habits  and  by  abundant  production,  he  may 
be  able  to  produce,  with  an  agreeable  amount  of  pro- 
ductive l^bor,  more  material  wealth  than  he  can 
judiciously  consume.     So  with  the  Marsites. 

"The  principal  differences  of  which  we  have  thus 
far  spoken  between  our  and  your  system  of  education 
are: 

"We  give  the  child,  in  the  acquisition  of  informa- 
tion, complete  freedom;  you  compel  it  to  do  certain 
things  which  you  as  adults  believe  to  be  right,  but  which, 
as  a  rule,  are  perhaps  nine  times  out  of  ten  wrong.  We 
believe  that  the  home,  field  and  active  society  is  the 
best  school;  you  largely  cut  the  child  off  from  these 
natural  means   and    confine    it   to  the  narrow  school- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM..         323 

house,  or  prison,  we  think,  where  it  is  not  allowed  to 
talk  and  exercise — the  very  things  you  desire  it  to 
learn.  We  endeavor  to  create  a  desire  for  inquiry  by 
pleasant  and  attractive  incentives  only;  you  generally 
resort  to  compulsion.  Hence,  we  believe  that  a  child 
should  study  only  zvlicn,  where  and  what  it  likes;  you 
believe  that  it  7mist  study  such  a  time  and  such 
branches,  and  at  such  a  place,  whether  it  finds  pleasure 
in  doing  so  or  not.  We  believe  that  a  teacher  or  parent, 
who  must  compel  a  child  or  pupil  to  study,  does  not 
know  how  to  teach;  you  believe  that  the  child's  dislike 
for  study  is  grounded  in  the  perversity  of  its  nature. 
We  teach  and  inculcate  that  manual  labor  is  honorable; 
that  one  who  lives  from  the  labor  of  others  is  a  social 
and  industrial  parasite;  that  a  child  should  be  enticed 
to  establish  the  habit  of  manual  labor  while  young.  You 
believe  that  manual  labor  is  disrespectful,  that  a 
washerwoman,  as  such,  is  not  as  good  as  a  senator's 
wife,  that  one  who  lives  from  the  labor  of  others  by 
means  of  profit,  interest,  rent,  and  taxes  is  a  good, 
clever  person.  You  largely  teach  inequality;  we  teach 
complete  equality  of  man,  woman  and  child. 

"  On  the  money  question  our  system  of  education 
has  a  great  advantage  over  yours.  Our  child  receives 
all  it  earns  at  the  close  of  each  month;  your  child 
works  for  the  parent.  It  receives  nothing  for  a  number 
of  years  but  board,  clothing  and  sometimes  a  little 
pocket  money.  Some  of  your  parents  give  their  chil- 
dren some  property  when  the  children  become  '  of  age;' 
some  parents  give  their  property  to  their  children,  per- 
haps, because  they  can  not  take  the  property  with  them 
when  they  die;  some  parents  have  nothing  to  give 
when  the  child  becomes  of  age  nor  when  the  parents 


324  PRACTICAL    CO-OI'IvKATI VE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

die.  In  a  child,  in  which  the  ideas  of  time  and  space 
are  yet  very  imperfectly  developed,  a  remote  reward  is 
a  very  feeble  incentive  to  labor.  A  child  or  a  savage 
will  do  a  great  deal  for  a  penny,  if  paid  immediately, 
but  they  will  do  very  little  for  ten  dollars,  if  they  are 
to  be  paid  five  years  hence,  or  even  a  year  hence. 

"You  say,  how  can  you  make  your  children  work  if 
you  do  not  force  them;  but  the  secret,  you  see,  all  lies 
in  the  system.  Our  system  encourages  a  child  to  work, 
while  yours  encourages  it  to  be  idle.  We  have  a  short 
day,  easy  work  and  big  casli  pay;  you  have  a  long  day, 
toilsome  work,  and  small  pay  on  ten  to  forty  years  time. 

"You  can  easily  see  that  we  are  all  teachers  and  all 
pupils  at  the  same  time.  We  study  our  whole  lifetime 
and  graduate  only  at  death.  We  teach  each  other 
when  we  labor  and  when  we  play,  in  the  house  and  in 
the  field.  The  teachers,  as  well  as  the  pupils,  perform 
their  manual  labor  daily;  for  we  believe:  i.  That  a 
knowledge  of  manual  labor  is  the  most  important 
education  we  can  receive.  2.  That  a  short,  easy  day's 
manual  labor  like  ours,  especially  if  performed  in  the 
open  air,  is  healthful,  and  promotes  the  development 
of  body  and  mind;  such  labor  is  the  most  invigorating 
food  that  can  be  taken.  3.  That  we  have  more  leisure 
time  for  teaching  and  imparting  useful  knowledge  to 
our  children  and  to  each  other  than  we  want,  besides 
theshort  time  we  daily  devote  to  manual  labor.  4.  That 
labor  must  be  made  so  easy,  attractive  and  agreeable 
that  we  do  it  for  the  pleasure  that  is  in  it;  and  5.  That 
no  one  should  be  forced  to  study  or  learn  what  he  finds 
no  pleasure  in.  Your  school-houses  and  your  methods 
of  teaching  are  altogether  unnatural,  ours  are  natural; 
that  is  the  reason  you  are  obliged  to  use  force  every- 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  325 

where.  Your  childreii  are  all  right,  but  your  school 
is  nearly  all  wrong.  Your  school-houses  and  your 
methods  of  teaching  are  an  infraction  of  the  laws  of 
life  and  health;  that  is  why  your  children  so  often  rebel 
against  them.  That  is  the  reason  why  so  many  of  your 
pupils  are  tardy,  absent,  sullen  and  puny.  The  child's 
instinctive  knowledge  of  life  and  health,  when  it  re- 
monstrates against  your  school  and  your  methods  of 
teaching,  is  a  better  guide  than  the  perverted  reasons 
of  your  teachers  and  parents." 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

EDUCATION — THE  DIFFERENT  BRANCHES. 

"How,  then,  do  you  teach  the  different  branches, 
Mr.  Midith,  as  the  pupils  grow  older?"  asked  Mr. 
Uwins. 

"I  have  already  explained  how  we  learn  our  letter, 
how  we  learn  to  print,  draw  and  write. 

^'Language . — We  learn  good  language,  because  we 
hear  it  continually  spoken  by  our  companions,  who,  in 
a  system  like  ours,  are  all  well  educated  and  good 
linguists.  We  learn  to  speak  by  speaking.  In  a  large 
family  like  ours,  language  is  very  good,  and  improves 
rapidly,  because  there  are  always  sure  to  be  some  good 
linguists  who  are  unconsciously  and  spontaneously 
teaching  language  and  grammar  to  all  the  rest.  Under 
such  conditions  you  can  easily  see  that  we  hear  scarce- 
ly any  bad  language.  We  speak  fluently  and  gram- 
matically without  particularly  studying  technical  gram- 
mar and  rhetoric,  which,  of  course,  are  nothing  but  the 
language  used  by  the  best  speakers  and  writers  of  the 
age  rn  which  they  live.  That  is  the  way  we  study  and 
learn  language,  grammar  and  rhetoric;  with  a  higher 
development  they  grow  continually  more  simple.  The 
conditions  under  our  system  brings  about  these  favor- 
able and  natural  opportunities. 

"Here,  again,  we  have  a  vast  advantage  over  you 
and  your  system.     So  many  of  you  are  compelled,  by 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  327 

want  and  the  fear  of  want,  to  work  so  hard  and  so  long 
daily,  that  parents  and  children  are  obliged  to  expend 
nearly  all  their  vitality  to  secure  the  material  neces- 
saries of  life.  Your  families  are  small  and  many  of 
them  are  living  all  alone  in  the  country.  The  language 
of  parents,  under  such  conditions,  must  necessarily  be 
very  poor  and  their  vocabulary  very  limited.  Children 
can  learn  very  little  good  language  from  such  parents. 
They  hear  much  more  bad  grammar  at  home  than  they 
get  good  grammar  from  the  book  and  school-house,  in 
which  it  is  indeed  generally  poor  enough,  too.  It  is 
not  an  easy  matter  for  one  to  lay  aside,  in  later  years, 
the  'barnyard'  expressions  which  he  has  learned  in  his 
childhood  and  youth.  A  person  that  never  hears  any- 
thing but  good  language,  can  not  use  poor  language, 
for  language  must  be  learned." 

"But  we  have  many  wealthy  people  who  have  all 
the  time  they  want  for  the  study  of  language,  how 
about  them?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"Those  few  of  your  wealthier  classes,  who  hear  better 
language  and  grammar  at  home,  and  who  have  plenty 
of  time  to  devote  for  its  acquisition,  come  in  contact 
with  so  much  bad  language  that  they  pick  up  about  as 
much  bad  as  good  language.  In  this  manner  there  is 
an  immense  amount  of  time  and  labor  wasted  here  in 
the  study  of  technical  grammar  and  rhetoric,  which 
would  be  unnecessary  under  a  properly  organized  social 
condition." 

"How  do  you  teach  writing,  Mr.  Midith?"  asked 
Roland. 

"I  have  mentioned  elsewhere  how  we  learn  to  make 
our  letters,  and  how  we  keep  our  record  in  our  time- 
book  when  wc  are  yet  very  young.     Our  next  incentive 


32^  I'l^ACriCAl.    C0-01'ER.\T1V"I<:    INDIVIDUALISM. 

for  writiiii^  is  our  lar<^c  daily  newspaper,  issued  by 
every  community,  as  1  have  explained  in  my  previous 
narrative.  At  a  very  early  ^^e  children  are  encouraged 
to  write  articles  for  the  paper.  All  of  us,  yountj  and 
old  (except  infants),  are  contributors  to  this  paper; 
and  all  subjects  of  human  inquiry  are  discussed.  We 
enjoy  complete  freedom  of  speech  and  freedom  of  the 
press.  We  allow  no  censor  over  them.  The  children 
have  a  certain  department  of  the  paper  allotted  to 
them;  and  the  older  people  are  much  interested  in  the 
children's  contributions,  discussions  and  explanations. 
There  is  a  wide,  friendly,  open  field  for  emulation  in 
these  newspaper  columns.  These  newspaper  contri- 
butions are  a  great  incentive  for  children,  as  well  as 
adults,  to  learn  to  write  well,  to  express  their  thoughts 
concisely,  elegantly,  forcibly  and  clearly.  The  editor 
makes  such  slight  corrections  as  he  finds  in  the  chil- 
dren's manuscripts,  which  are  returned  to  the  children, 
so  that  they  can  compare  the  printed  column  with 
the  original  manuscript.  In  this  easy,  practical  way, 
our  children  learn  writing,  orthography,  language, 
grammar,  rhetoric,  style  and  invention. 

"Our  next  incentive  to  induce  children  to  write  is 
brought  about  by  our  free  and  convenient  system  of 
motor  travel.  This  travel  creates  a  large  and  wide  ac- 
quaintance among  children  as  well  as  among  older 
persons.  This  extensive  acquaintance  naturally  brings 
about  a  great  deal  of  correspondence. 

"Many  of  us  are  stenographers,  and  nearly  all  have 
a  typewriter  and  a  phonograph,  which  are  so  improved 
and  simplified  now  on  Mars  that  you  would  scarcely 
know  them. 

"You   see    in  this  way   we   have   many  incentives 


PTRACTICAL    CO-OPfiRATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  3^$ 

which  will  induce  children  and  adults  of  all  ages  to 
become  proficient  in  handwriting,  typewriting  and  in 
composition. 

^^Mathematics. — In  the  first  place,  let  us  not  over- 
look the  fact  that  our  financial,  social  and  industrial 
organizations  have  vastly  simplified  our  mathematics. 
In  weights  and  measures  we  have  adopted  something 
like  your  metric  system.  In  commercial  transactions 
we  have  no  profit  and  loss;  no  stocks  and  bonds;  no 
premiums  and  discounts;  no  commission  and  broker- 
age; no  stock  investments;  no  insurance,  taxes  and 
revenues;  no  interest,  partial  payments,  true  discount, 
bank  discount,  exchange,  equation  of  payments;  no 
annual  or  compound  interest;  no  annuities;  no  part- 
nership. This  does  away  with  nearly  all  the  difficult 
parts  of  arithmetic  on  which  your  children  have  to 
spend  years  of  unproductive  and  destructive  labor. 

"  Our  children  learn  to  count  as  soon  as  they  can 
talk.  Every  one  with  whom  they  come  in  contact  is 
their  teacher.  Figures  and  numbers  are  taught  as  soon 
as  the  child  begins  to  learn  its  letters.  Children  also 
teach  one  another  how  to  read  and  write  figures  and 
numbers,  and  how  to  cipher.  During  favorable  weather 
the  slates  in  the  nurseries  and  parks  are  nearly  always 
in  use. 

"When  they  grow  up  to  be  a  little  older,  they  find 
delight  in  studying  mathematics  during  part  of  their 
leisure  time.  All  the  higher  mathematics — algebra, 
geometry,  trigonometry,  calculus,  and  various  other 
measurements — are  well  understood  by  nearly  all  our 
men  and  women.  You  must  not  forget,  that  on  account 
of  the    Marsites'    intellectual   advancement   thev    can 


330  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

learn  mathematics  with  much  less  labor  than  they  could 
formerly,  or  than  jv;;/  can  noiu. 

"We  hav^e  a  mathematical  apartment  in  each  family. 
This  department  is  in  charge  of  one  person,  the  ablest 
mathematician,  who  holds  his  position  by  virtue  of  his 
superior  ability  or  mathematical  genius.  He  is  ac- 
knowledged teacher  by  all,  simply  because  he  is  able  to 
soh'e  difficult  problems  better  than  any  other  member 
of  the  family.  This  teacher  is  in  his  department  or 
school-room  certain  hours  of  the  day,  and  all  who  need 
assistance  can  go  there  and  get  it.  We  believe,  how- 
ever, that  no  one  should  ask  for  assistance  unless  it  is 
absolutely  necessary.  Every  one,  we  think,  should 
solve  his  own  problems,  if  possible.  It  makes  one  orig- 
inal and  independent,  the  most  valuable  and  important 
characteristic  with  which  a  person  can  be  endowed. 
It  often  happens  that  not  a  pupil  is  seen  in  the  mathe- 
matical department  for  days  at  a  time.  All  work  their 
own  problems." 

"But,  supposing,  Mr.  Midith,  that  there  would  be  a 
young  man  or  a  young  woman,  who  would  gradually 
become  more  proficient  than  the  teacher,  what  would 
happen  then?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley.  "Would  the  new 
rival  drive  the  old  teacher  out?" 

At  this  remark,  Mr.  Midith  smiled  and  said:  "The 
old  teacher  would  be  too  glad  to  resign  his  position  to 
his  rival  as  soon  as  the  teacher  found  that  he  could  not 
assist  his  rival  any  more.  Even  with  you,  where  pro- 
fessors are  elected  by  politicians  and  where  positions 
are  obtained  with  difificulty,  a  professor  of  mathematics 
would  not  attempt  to  hold  his  position,  if  he  found  that 
he  could  not  teach  his  students  any  longer. 

"'Physiology, — The    study  of    physiolog}',  we  make 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  331 

very  simple,  pleasant  and  practical.  We  teach  the 
location,  structure  and  function  of  the  organs  of  the 
human  body,  both  of  the  male  and  of  the  female. 
How  a  particle  of  soil  in  our  garden  becomes  a  human 
tissue  by  being  first  assimilated  into  a  vegetable,  grain 
or  fruit;  how  we  eat  and  digest  the  vegetable,  etc.; 
how  the  nutritious  part  of  the  food  is  thrown  into  the 
circulation  of  the  blood;  and  how  it  is  then  carried  and 
built  up  into  an  organ  where  it  is  needed,  as  an  eye,  a 
nail,  a  heart,  a  bone,  or  a  brain. 

"We  teach  that  life  is  the  first  thing  we  receive,  the 
most  precious  fortune  we  own,  and  the  last  prize  we 
can  lose.  Life,  then,  is  the  standard  by  which  all  our 
acts  should  be  measured.  Every  act  that  conduces  to 
the  fullness  of  it  is  relatively  right;  and  every  act  that 
detracts  from  the  fullness  of  it  is  relatively  zvroiig.  All 
other  things  must  be  subservient  to  life  and  health, 
because  without  life  and  health  we  can  not  enjoy  the 
greatest  happiness,  the  end  of  all.  To  care  for  our 
body,  then,  is  the  first  and  most  important  undertaking. 
To  have  this  well  done  by  a  highly  complex  being,  we 
must  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  anatomy  and 
physiology,  a  knowledge  of  the  laws  of  life  and  health 
and  the  laws  of  reproduction.  Our  aim  in  physiological 
education  should  be  to  put  all  our  wishes,  all  our  wants, 
all  our  desires,  and  all  our  passions  in  tune  with  the 
laws  of  our  highest  being. 

''Eating. — We  teach  our  children  by  example  what 
to  eat  and  drink  and  lioiv  to  eat  and  drink.  We  our- 
selves put  into  practice  what  we  wish  our  children  to 
do  and  what  we  believe  to  be  most  healthful  in  the  way 
of  eating  and  drinking. 

"For  instance,  the  unperverted  taste  of  the  inferior 


332  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

animal  when  it  has  a  sufficient  supply  and  choice  of 
food  is  an  almost  unerring  guide  in  making  the  proper 
selection  of  the  ki/td  oi  food  it  requires.  If  we  should 
eat  poison  instead  of  bread,  the  selection  would  be  so 
fatal  to  life  that  we  would  soon  die.  If  we  should  se- 
lect such  food  that  cannot  be  digested  and  assimilated, 
even  if  it  is  not  poisonous,  we  would  soon  have  to 
starve.  That  kind  of  food,  then,  which  sustains  life 
best,  as  compared  with  the  efforts  required  for  its 
production,  should  be  selected. 

"We  are  vegetarians,  living  exclusively  on  vege- 
tables, grains  and  fruits,  with  the  exception  of  dairy 
products  and  eggs.  When  I  first  arrived  on  earth  it 
seemed  perhaps  as  repugnant  to  me  to  see  people  eat- 
ing steak  as  it  would  seem  to  you  to  see  a  cannibal 
eating  human  flesh.  We  shrink  from  a  carcass  the 
same  as  we  shrink  from  a  corpse." 

"But,  Mr.  Midith,  do  you  believe  that  man  could 
get  along  //rn' without  a  meat  diet?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 
"Do  you  believe  that  vegetables,  etc.,  are  sufficiently 
nourishing  to  sustain  the  burdens  of  hard  labor  im- 
posed upon  us  here?" 

"I  am  sure  I  know  nothing  to  the  contrary,  Mrs. 
Uwins,"  replied  Mr,  Midith.  "Your  horse  works  hard, 
your  cow  gives  milk,  your  sheep  grows  wool,  and  they 
all  live  and  grow  strong  on  a  vegetable  diet.  Why 
should  not  man  do  the  same?  The  dentition  (teeth) 
of  man,  too,  according  to  the  testimony  of  some  of 
your  most  reliable  scientific  authorities,  is  vegetarian. 
It  may  be  shown  that  a  vegetable  diet  gives  great  endur- 
ance and  strength  in  man.  For  examples,  your  bark- 
gatherers  of  South  America,  who  carry  upon  their 
backs,  in  a  rough  country,  a  burden  of  over  two  hundred 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  333 

pounds  for  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  or  more  per  day, 
live  exclusively  on  bananas.  The  Roman  soldiers  en- 
dured the  hardest  work  on  a  vegetable  diet.  The  hard- 
working Spaniards  live  on  black  bread,  onions  and 
melons.  The  Chinese  live  almost  exclusively  on  rice, 
and  can  endure  much  harder  work  than  a  negro  fed  on 
fat  meat. 

"There  is  one  other  important  reason  why  we  are 
vegetarians  In  our  opinion,  a  flesh  diet  is  degenerat- 
ing, as  well  as  unwholesome.  May  it  not  be  possible 
that  a  human  body,  built  up  on  the  flesh  and  blood  of 
a  carnivorous  brute,  cannot  be  expected  to  contain 
within  itself  genuine  purity,  love  and  kindness  toward 
others? 

"We  have  also  discontinued  the  use  of  all  intoxicat- 
ing liquor  as  a  beverage.  Experience,  not  'prohibition,' 
gradually  convinced  us  that  it  not  only  tears  down,  but 
never  builds  up.  That  the  apparent  elevated  feeling  is 
always  followed  by  a  corresponding  depression.  That 
an  immense  amount  of  unproductive  labor  has  to  be 
expended  annually  in  producing  it.  That  its  use  caused 
an  untold  amount  of  misery;  and  that  the  apparent 
pleasure  of  its  use  is  only  a  slavish  desire — an  abnor- 
mal, physiological  derangement — a  diseased  condition 
of  the  system  which  is  continually  moving  in  the  di- 
rection of  delirium  tremens  in  which  it  will  end,  if  the 
use  is  sufficiently  excessive  and  prolonged. 

"In  your  present  stage  of  intellectual  development, 
the  evils  resulting  from  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquor 
as  a  beverage  are  very  apparent.  Liquor  is  an  incen- 
tive to  crime  because  it  stupefies  the  better  feelings.  It 
fills  your  prisons  with  criminals,  who  have  been  urged 
on  to  their  dark  deeds  when  under  its  influence.  It  de- 


334  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM, 

prives  countless  homes  of  their  joy  and  brightness.  It 
makes  a  slave  of  millions  of  women  and  children,  who 
are  ruled  by  a  lion  of  terror.  It  makes  slaves  of  the 
drinkers  themselves.  It  wrecks  constitutions  and  fur- 
nishes victims  for  countless  premature  graves.  It 
squanders  wealth,  kills  useful  industry,  suppresses 
kindness,  invades  purity  and  stifles  thought.  It  causes 
filth,  jealousy,  idleness,  poverty  and  pauperism.  The 
evil  effects  of  its  use  react  on  the  drinker  and  reflect 
on  his  companions.  By  the  presence  of  a  drunkard, 
the  street  and  society  are  turned  into  a  saloon  and  the 
home  is  converted  into  a  dungeon.  The  drinker's 
breath  even  pollutes  the  very  atmosphere  his  compan- 
ions are  compelled  to  breathe. 

"We  have  also  long  ago  discontinued  the  use  of  to- 
bacco. We  found,  as  our  medical  science  advanced, 
that  it  had  a  bad,  physiological  effect  on  the  user's  sys- 
tem. Besides  this,  we  found  that  it  produced  many 
social  evils.  To  chew  and  snuff,  say  nothing  about 
smoking,  is  very  filthy.  I  here  sometimes  see  a  man 
spit  tobacco  juice  on  the  floor,  and  sometimes,  when 
the  wind  is  high,  he  even  misses  the  floor  and  hits  his 
companion.  Very  frequently  one  meets  a  person  here 
who  uses  the  theater,  parlor,  postoffice,  railroad  car 
and  sidewalk  as  a  spittoon.  Sometimes  his  lips,  whis- 
kers and  mustache  are  all  loaded  and  fringed  with  to- 
bacco juice.  These  loathsome  sights  are  never  prac- 
ticed, nor  voluntarily  endured  by  highly  cultured 
individuals. 

"Your  smoking  is  also  a  habit  that  greatly  prevents 
an  orderly  social  adjustment;  for  if  a  smoker,  on  account 
of  his  companions,  is  prevented  from  smoking,  the 
smoker  himself  becomes  a  slave  to  his  desire.     If  he 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  335 

smokes  in  the  presence  of  his  companions,  he  very 
likely  makes  slaves  of  his  companions  by  polluting, 
with  tobacco  smoke,  the  air  which  his  companions 
are  compelled  to  breathe.  And  if  the  smoker  and  non- 
smoker  do  not  associate,  that  tends  to  divide  society 
into  classes,  which  produces  pernicious  social  effects. 
All  these  abnormal  habits  are  unhealthy,  wasteful  and 
dangerous  on  account  of  fire,  etc,  filthy,  causes  offen- 
sive breath,  and  are  generally  disgusting  to  others;  for 
these  and  other  reasons  we  have  long  discontinued 
them.  I  am  quite  certain  that  our  ladies,  who  are  free 
and  independent,  would  not  tolerate  men  who  indulged 
in  such  filthy,  offensive  habits  as  the  use  of  stimulants 
and  narcotics  produce.  Our  ancestors,  generations  ago, 
came  to  the  conclusion  that  a  healthy  body  and  mind 
that  cannot  do  its  part  without  being  animated  by  a 
stimulant  or  stupefied  by  a  narcotic,  is  better  off  in  the 
grave  than  out  of  it. 

"Thus  we  gradually  select,  by  long  observation  and 
experience,  that  kind  of  food  and  drink  which  we  be- 
lieve to  be  most  wholesome  and  nourishing,  and  which 
infringe  least  upon  the  rights  of  others;  for  no  one  can 
enjoy  the  greatest  happiness  who  is  surrounded  by 
companions  who  are  miserable.  Such  are  a  few  of  the 
practical  lessons  that  we  teach  by  example  concerning 
zvliat  to  eat  and  drink. 

*'Hozv  to  cat. — In  eating,  we  notice  that  the  instinct- 
ive desire  of  the  lower  animals  prompts  them  always 
to  eat  the  most  desirable  food  first.  This,  then,  must 
be  the  most  healthful  method  of  eating;  if  it  were  not, 
nature,  by  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  would  have 
forced  the  animals  to  reverse  their  habits  of  eating,  the 
same  as  she  forces  them  to  live  chaste  lives. 


336  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"  We  endeavor  to  establish  a  healthy,  trustworthy 
appetite  in  our  children  by  always  keeping  an  abun- 
dance of  all  kinds  of  our  eatable  food  before  them,  by 
giving  them  complete  freedom  in  the  choice  of  their 
food  and  in  the  time  of  eating,  always  letting  them  eat 
the  most  desirable  food  first.  Under  these  conditions 
variety,  abundance  and  freedom  admirably  adjust  the 
appetite  in  harmony  with  life  and  health.  There 
is  another  point  which  we  should  consider  well. 
Excessive  labor,  to  which  the  vast  majority  of 
your  people  here  on  earth  are  doomed  for  life, 
implies  an  excessive  digestion  and  assimilation  ; 
for  the  excessive  waste  of  the  body,  caused  by 
the  excessive  physical  labor,  must  be  repaired  by 
an  excessive  quantity  of  food.  By  this  the  func- 
tion of  all  the  internal  organs  becomes  excessive 
on  account  of  the  excessive  physical  labor.  This  is 
one  reason  why  so  many  of  your  people  are  afflicted 
with  burdensome  ailments;  why  so  many  have  broken- 
down  constitutions,  and  why  so  many  die  premature 
deaths.  Nearly  all  of  your  people  seem  to  be  old 
when  they  are  yet  young." 

"  You  say  you  allow  your  children  complete  free- 
dom in  the  choice  of  their  food,  always  permitting 
them  to  eat  the  most  desirable  food  first,"  said  Rev. 
Dudley.  "  Do  you  think  a  child  would  ever  eat  pota- 
toes, if  it  could  get  all  the  pie  and  cake  it  wants?" 

"Yes,  I  am  sure  it  would  eat  something  besides  pie 
and  cake,"  replied  Mr.  Midith.  "  You  are  here  labor- 
ing under  one  fundamental  mistake.  Rev.  Dudley. 
Judging  from  your  words,  you  are  no  doubt  under  the 
impression  that  a  person  naturally  prefers  one  kind  of 
food  to  some  other  kind;    but  that  is  an  error.     It  is 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  337 

true  that  some  people  like  one  kind  of  food  and  some 
another.  You  will  find  some  people  who  think  that  a 
horse  naturally  likes  oats  better  than  hay;  but  this  is 
not  true.     Let  us  illustrate: 

"A  horse,  say  in  a  pasture,  that  is  at  liberty  to  go  to 
a  load  of  oats  and  to  a  load  of  hay  at  any  time,  begin- 
ning as  a  colt,  eats  hay  with  as  much  relish  as  oats,  and 
never  eats  too  much  of  either.  It  will  never  eat  all  the 
oats  and  lea\e  all  the  hay;  but  a  horse  that  has  had 
hay  only  for  a  long  time,  or  that  has  been  kept  away 
from  feed  too  long,  will,  as  a  rule,  seem  to  prefer  oats, 
and  will  also  very  likely  eat  to  excess  when  left  free. 
Perhaps  the  effects  of  overeating  may  at  first  not  be 
apparent;  but  nevertheless  they  may  be  there,  and  if 
repeated  frequently,  will  soon  become  apparent. 

"  Just  so  with  a  person.  One  who  dines  at  a  table 
that  contains  all  he  desires  in  variety,  in  quantity  and 
in  quality,  has  no  particular  preference  for  any  one 
kind  of  food,  and  he  will  seldom,  if  ever,  eat  to  excess. 
His  appetite  has  not  been  perverted  by  want  nor  by 
arbitrary  constraint.  Hence  our  dietetical  lessons  are 
the  simplest  possible.  Provide  plenty  of  everything 
and  allow  the  eater  complete  freedom  and  choice, 
beginning  with  infancy. 

"  Now,  the  conditions  here  on  earth  are  much  dif- 
ferent. Let  us  contemplate  them  for  a  few  moments. 
In  the  first  place,  a  large  majority  of  your  families, 
under  your  vicious  economic  system,  can  afford  few  of 
your  so-called  dainties  on  their  tables.  The  conse- 
quence is  that  the  children,  and  adults,  too,  are  hank- 
ering after  eatables  which  are  too  costly  for  them  to 
buy  regularly;  so  that,  when  they  do  occasionally  buy 

them,  their  appetite  is  so  perverted  by  long  abstinence 
22 


338  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

that  it  is  no  reliable  guide,  and  overeating  is  almost 
invariably  the  result.  Your  Christmas  and  other  noted 
dinners  have  such  an  evil  effect,  too. 

"  When  we  notice  a  child  eating  that  is  compelled 
to  eat  and  drink  the  lesser  desirable  food  first — for  in- 
stance, 'potatoes,'  instead  of  '  pie  '  —  its  manner  of  eat- 
ing is  entirely  different  from  what  it  would  be  if  it  had 
always  had  an  abundance  of  all  kinds  of  food  it  want- 
ed, and  if  it  were  left  free  to  make  its  own  choice  in 
regard  to  what  it  would  eat  first  and  what  last.  You 
will  generally  notice  that  when  a  parent  tells  a  child, 
which  you  frequently  see  here,  that  it  must  eat  those 
potatoes  or  that  bread  before  it  will  get  the  so-called 
delicious  dessert,  pie,  cookies,  etc.,  it  will  cram  its 
mouth  so  full  of  potato,  in  order  to  get  them  out  of 
the  way,  that  it  almost  chokes.  It  hurries  the  bulkier 
food  down  at  an  unusual!)'  rapid  rate,  so  that  it  may 
begin  at  its  choice  food.  This  manner  of  eating  pre- 
vents a  thorough  mastication.  The  food  is  also  swal- 
lowed before  it  is  well  mixed  w  ith  sali\'a.  Under  this 
constraint,  all  the  functions  of  the  child  are  unnatural 
and  imperfect.  Your  fashion  forces  your  adults  to  the 
same  unnatural  course  of  eating  as  the  parent  forces 
the  child.     Hence  so  many  dj^speptics. 

"  Now  let  us  notice  the  difference  in  the  course  of 
the  child's  action  when  it  is  left  free  to  make  its  own 
choice  what  to  eat  first.  This  freedom  of  the  child 
will  produce  an  entirely  different  course  of  eating. 
You  will  notice,  in  the  first  place,  that  under  abun- 
dance and  freedom  the  child  will  show  no  particular 
preference  for  any  one  kind  of  food;  and,  secondly,  it 
will,  like  the  inferior  animals,  in\-ariably  eat  the  most 
desirable  food  first.    Your  child,  when  free,  would  per- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  339 

haps  begin  with  pie,  because  pie  with  you,  as  a  rule,  is 
not  as  plentiful  as  potatoes  and  bread  are.  In  this 
state  of  freedom  it  takes  plenty  of  time  for  chewing 
and  mixing  the  food  with  saliva,  because  it  sees  noth- 
ing before  it  which  it  likes  better  and  which  it  wants 
to  get  after  finishing  the  pie.  Perhaps  it  plays  half  the 
time  with  its  knife  and  fork,  enjoying  freedom  and  the 
pleasure  of  eating.  After  it  has  finished  pie,  etc.,  it 
begins  at  potatoes,  etc.  All  this  time  it  eats  leisurely, 
instead  of  gluttonously,  as  before.  In  this  natural 
order  of  selecting  food  we  gain  one  other  important— 
perhaps  the  most  important — point,  which  is,  that  the 
child  is  always  coming  to  something  that  it  likes  some- 
what less  well,  which  will  cause  it  to  stop  eating  just 
when  it  has  enough. 

"There  are  quite  a  number  of  other  practices  and 
habits  in  the  manner  of  eating  and  drinking  here  on 
earth  which  the  Marsites  would  consider  pernicious. 

"So  many  of  you  eat  too  fast.  Your  vicious  system 
of  business  often  allows  you  scarcely  time  to  eat  a 
meal  decently.  Instead  of  masticating  the  food  long 
enough  to  moisten  it  thoroughly  with  saliva,  which  is 
absolutely  essential  to  good  digestion,  it  is  often  rinsed 
down  with  tea  and  coffee,  which  is  not  infrequently 
taken  with  every  other  mouthful  of  food.  This  fre- 
quent rinsing,  or  drinking  when  eating,  is  very  injuri- 
ous to  good  digestion.  Drinks,  such  as  tea  and 
coffee,  appear  to  me  to  have  a  tendency  to  originate 
and  establish  this  habit  of  frequent  drinking  during  the 
meal.  Experience  seems  to  prove  that  fresh  water  is 
the  healthiest  drink  that  can  be  taken,  and  very  few  of 
us  use  anything  else  for  drinking. 

"Delightful  feelings  during  meal  times  are  conducive 


340  PRACTICAL    CO-OPEKATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

to  good  digestion.  We,  theretore,  particularly  culti- 
vate delightful  conversation  during  meal  times,  and 
make  everything  appear  as  happy  and  enticing  as  pos- 
sible. A  person  is  generally  cranky  when  he  is  hungry 
and  weary.  Our  tables  are  always  tastily  and  abun- 
dantly laid.  Clean  linen,  finished  dishes,  flavored  food, 
exquisitely  arranged  table  bouquets,  easy  chairs  and 
clean,  courteous  waiters  are  found  in  our  dining-rooms. 
We  keep  an  abundance  of  food,  which  is  prepared  by 
expert  cooks;  but  we  do  not  believe,  like  you  do,  in 
wasting  about  as  much,  if  not  more,  of  good  food  than 
is  eaten,  which,  I  believe,  is  often  the  case  in  your 
'  first-class  hotels  '  and  in  your  '  upper '  society. 

"  From  the  foregoing  explanation  you  can  clearly 
see  that  all  the  social  and  industrial  features  are  so 
intimately  connected  with  and  dependent  upon  one 
another  that  a  person  can  not  even  follow  a  healthful 
course  of  eating  and  drinking  under  a  viciously 
arranged  social  and  industrial  organization.  With- 
out an  abundant  supply  of  all  kinds  of  food,  we  con- 
tinually hanker  for  the  scarce  varieties,  and  when  we 
occasionally  obtain  a  supply  of  them,  our  appetite  has 
been  perverted  by  long  abstinence,  and  overeating  is 
invariably  the  result.  Our  economic  system  produces 
abundance  of  varieties  of  food;  you  have  a  scarcity  of 
many  articles.  A  good  social  system  puts  no  constraint 
on  the  child  nor  on  the  adult  as  to  the  manner  of  eat- 
ing, so  that  the  appetite  will  always  be  a  safe  guide. 
Our  day's  labor  is  so  short  and  our  restaurant  eating 
conveniences  so  perfect  that  we  eat  whenever  our  sys- 
tem calls  for  it.  Your  work  between  meals  is  so  hard 
and  so  long  that  you  generally  become  unduly 
fatigued,  which   impairs  digestion.     Again,    we    have 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  34 1 

always  plenty  of  leisure  time  for  eating,  while  many  of 
you  have  almost  to  run  and  eat.  Once  more:  At  table, 
in  our  large,  comfortable  dining-hall,  or  in  our  ele- 
gantly furnished  restaurant,  we  are  always  surrounded 
by  mirthful  company,  both  ladies  and  gentlemen,  who 
appreciate  one  another's  company,  because  they  are 
perfectly  free  and  independent  of  each  other,  and  can 
select  as  companions  whom  they  please,  while  the  vast 
majority  of  you  have  to  eat  in  a  small,  hot  kitchen,  or 
in  a  small,  ill-ventilated  dining-room,  very  often  sur- 
rounded by  rude,  filthy,  ravenous  children,  and  an 
overworked,  pouty  husband  and  wife.  I  have  more 
than  once  noticed  in  your  families  that  not  a  word  was 
said  nor  a  smile  visible  during  the  whole  meal  time. 
Such  conditions  are  not  very  conducive  to  good  diges- 
tion and  perfect  assimilation. 

"  From  the  foregoing  remarks  you  will  learn  that 
we  teach  to  be  natural  in  our  habits  of  eating  and 
drinking  ;  you  are  artificial.  We  develop  a  healthy 
appetite  by  free  use;  you  pervert  it  by  constraint.  You 
make  prevalent  fashion  your  guide;  we  take  health  for 
it.  Your  artificial  system  tends  to  cause  poverty  and 
disease;  our  natural  system  tends  to  produce  health 
and  abundance.  Before  you  can  hope  to  give  valuable 
dietetical  instructions  you  must  improve  your  school- 
house  in  that  direction.  Not  until  you  can  supply  an 
abundance  of  everything  for  all  and  give  your  child 
free  scope  to  follow  its  unperverted  appetite,  can  you 
hope  to  produce  good  results  in  this  line  of  instruc- 
tion, and  all  your  efforts  should  be  directed  in  these 
channels.  Your  Greek  and  Latin  will  never  do  it;  and 
your  paternalism  will  bring  you  continually  further  and 
further  away  from  the  end  which  you  are  seeking." 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

EDUCATION — HOW  TO  TEACH    THE   DIFFERENT    BRANCHES. 

[  Continued.  ] 

"From  what  you  have  told  us  about  your  eating 
and  drinking,  Mr.  Midith,  I  have  learned  so  many  new 
ideas  that  I  should  like  to  have  you  give  us  an  expla- 
nation of  how  you  teach  and  inculcate  cleanliness,  and 
what  sanitary  regulations  you  have,"  requested    Viola. 

"Very  well,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "In  the  first  place, 
our  conveniences  for  bathing  are  excellent,  and  we 
generally  bathe  at  least  once  a  day.  In  the  parks  we 
have,  as  I  have  already  told  you,  large  artificial  lakes, 
which  are  supplied  with  water  by  a  fountain,  fed  by 
the  electric  pump  at  the  big-houses.  These  lakes  are 
fenced  so  that  children  can  not  fall  into  them.  Dur- 
ing fine  weather  in  summer,  we  generally  bathe  and 
swim  in  these  shady  lakes.  Little  children  who  have 
not  yet  learned  to  swim  have  a  separate  department 
with  a  shallow  lake  in  which  children  cannot  drown. 
In  these  shallow  lakes  children,  under  the  instruction 
of  older  swimmers,  learn  to  swim.  This  practice  makes 
us  all  good  swimmers.  By  example,  we  teach  that 
bathing  and  swimming  are  healthy  and  useful,  as  well 
as  delightful  exercises  after  we  have  accustomed  our- 
selves to  them.  When  the  weather  is  unfit  for  bathing 
in  the  lakes,  we  use  the  numerous  bath-rooms  in  the 
big-houses.     Each  private  apartment  is  also  furnished 

342 


PRACTICAL    CO-OBERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  343 

with  a  wash-stand  and  hydrants  containing  bdth  hot 
and  cold  water. 

"All  of  us,  men  and  women,  young  and  old,  wear 
our  hair  cut  short.  We  think  it  is  more  healthful  and 
freer  for  the  head.  The  hair  is  also  more  easily  kept 
clean  and  in  order.  We  teach  how  to  keep  our  finger 
and  toe  nails  clean  and  trimmed  by  practicing  it  on 
our  infants,  little  children,  and  on  ourselves  in  the 
presence  of  our  older  children,  who  are  beginning  to 
be  able  to  care  for  their  own  personal  cleanliness.  By 
cleaning  and  brushing  our  teeth  in  the  morning  and 
after  each  meal,  we  teach  how  to  care,  at  least  in  part, 
for  our  teeth.  We  have  learned  that  our  teeth  are 
organs  of  digestion,  and,  that  if  they  are  poor,  diges- 
tion will  be  impaired.  To  preserve  sound  teeth,  we 
must  not  bite  any  hard  substances  such  as  nuts,  etc., 
that  are  liable  to  crack  the  enamel;  we  must  also  keep 
them  clean,  so  as  to  prevent  them  from  decaying.  A 
dentist  should  frequently  examine  the  teeth,  and  if  he 
finds  them  unsound,  we  should  have  them  cared  for  in 
time.  How  to  care  for  the  other  organs  of  special 
sense,  we  teach  in  a  similar  manner,  always  practicing 
ourselves,  and  doing  for  our  helpless  children  from 
infancy  what  we  desire  them  to  do  in  after-years.  By 
these  lessons,  our  children,  as  they  grow  in  years,  learii 
to  do  for  themselves  what  they  had  done  for  them  by 
others  during  infancy.  The  habits,  by  use,  gradually 
become  pleasurable.  Thus,  we  always  teach  by  ex- 
ample, keeping  in  mind  that  hygienic  lessons  which 
are  good  for  children  are  also  good  for  older  persons, 
and  what  is  not  worth  doing  for  adults  is  not  worth 
doing  for  our  children." 

"What   about   dress?"    asked    Mr.  Uwins.      "Some 


344  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATlVfi    INDIVIDUALISM. 

time  at^o  you  told  us  that  your  ladies  wear  no  dresses. 
Will  you  now  favor  us  with  a  description  of  your 
costume  as  worn  by  your  ladies  and  gentlemen,  and 
also  how  you  teach  your  children  the  best  manner  of 
dressing?" 

"From  what  I  have  already  told  you  about  dress,'' 
continued  Mr.  Midith,  "it  is  readily  seen  that  we  teach 
the  wholesomeness  of  frequent  changes.  In  dress- 
ing, like  in  everything  else,  we  make  health  and  com- 
fort our  guide.  Those  decorations  and  ornaments 
which  put  the  body  most  completely  in  harmony  with 
the  phenomena  of  life  and  health  are  esteemed  the 
highest  by  us. 

"All  the  clothes  we  wear  are  easily  washed  and 
'done  up.'  Our  steam  washers  can  do  an  immense 
amount  of  laundry  work  in  a  short  time.  After  our 
day's  labor,  we  always  change  clothes.  When  at  leisure, 
we  are  all  dressed  neat  and  clean,  as  well  as  tidy  and 
comfortable.  No  one  can,  by  the  appearance  of  a  per- 
son, tell  the  miner  and  engineer  from  the  editor  and 
clerk,  nor  the  washerwoman  from  the  music  teacher. 
All  are  wealthy,  educated  and  refined.  One  kind  of 
labor  is  considered  as  honorable  as  another,  provided 
it  be  productive  labor,  the  only  kind  we  now  have.  We 
have  neither  master  nor  servant,  therefore,  we  have  no 
distinction  in  dress.  All  have  plenty  to  dress  in  the 
height  of  fashion. 

"Our  clothing  is  adapted  to  suit  the  seasons  of  the 
year.  Our  children  are  to  the  fullest  extent  so  dressed 
that  health  and  comfort  take  precedence  over  decora- 
tion, ornament  and  grotesque  patterns.  Hence  any 
garment,  which  is  clean,  healthful,  convenient  and  com- 
fortable, iirows  more  and  more  beautiful  to  our  siffht  as 


Practical  co-operative  Individualism.        345 

our  esthetic  sense  gradually  and  slowly  unfolds  by 
evolution. 

"It  is,  of  course,  utterly  impossible  for  me  to  tell 
you  all  about  the  various  styles,  patterns  and  suits 
which  are  worn  by  the  ladies  and  gentlemen  on  Mars. 
A  few  general  remarks  at  the  beginning  may,  however, 
aid  you  in  getting  a  better  understanding  of  what  is  to 
follow  in  the  more  detailed  description. 

"The  manufacture  of  cloth  on  Mars,  as  you  will  in- 
fer, is  much  in  advance  of  that  on  earth.  We  manu- 
facture, with  abundance  and  with  the  greatest  of  ease, 
fabrics  so  beautiful  and  delicate  that  the  people  of 
earth  would  wonder  how  it  were  possible  for  the  human 
hand  to  attain  such  skill.  Your  finest  fabrics  are  but  a 
coarse  beginning  as  compared  with  those  on  Mars. 
Now  you  must  remember,  too,  that  we  do  not,  like  you, 
manufacture  a  grade  of  good  goods  and  a  grade  of 
poor  goods.  In  a  world  where  every  person  has  all  he 
possibly  wants,  no  one  will  ever  wear /^^r  goods.  But, 
on  earth,  where  some  are  poor  and  some  are  rich,  the 
poor  people  have  to  wear  coarse  and  cheap  goods, 
while  the  rich  wear  abetter  grade.  Of  course,  we  have 
different  kinds  of  fabrics,  best  suited  for  the  different 
kinds  of  occupations,  etc.,  but  they  are  always  of  the 
best  quality. for  tliat  purpose. 

"On  Mars  every  person  gets  his  garments  made  to 
suit  his  individual  taste.  No  one  imitates  another  un- 
less it  suits  his  fancy.  All  of  us  are  equal  authority  on 
style.  We  have  no  Ward  McAllister  to  imitate  nor 
have  we  any  dressed  in  rags.  On  earth,  where  one  is 
rich  and  therefore  honored,  and  the  other  is  poor  and 
therefore  scorned,  you  have  what  you  call  a  'fashion,' 
because  all  are  endeavoring  to  imitate  the  former  as 


346  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

closely  as  possible,  because  every  person,  who  is  not 
utterly  void  of  self-respect,  delights  in  wearing  the 
mark  of  honor  and  prosperity.  Thus,  all  of  you  are 
striving  to  get  as  near  'The  Four  Hundred'  and  as  far 
away  from  those  dressed  in  rags  as  possible.  This  con- 
test originates  and  maintains  your  'fashion.'  But,  on 
Mars,  everything  is  style,  and  nothing  grows  out  of 
style. 

"  I  may  say  here  that  a  lady's  common  summer 
costume  generally  consists  of  a  plain,  light  felt  hat;  a 
loose  sailor's  jacket,  or  shirt-waist;  full,  loose  trousers 
or  divided  skirt,  as  your  ladies  sometimes  call  it, 
often  narrowed  to  almost  a  close  fit  about  midway 
between  the  knee  and  ankle;  but  the  low^er  extremi- 
ties of  the  pantaloons  are  often  less  narrow,  fit- 
ting over  a  pair  of  shoes  or  boots  with  low  heels, 
and  large  enough  for  a  comfortable  existence  of  the 
feet.  These,  together  with  the  finest  and  most  suitable 
undergarments,  a  few  tasty  decorations  and  her  mirth- 
ful, healthy,  handsome  countenance,  constitute  a 
lady's  common  costume  when  she  is  engaged  in  her 
ordinary  occupation.  In  the  winter  she  wears  a  fine, 
comfortable  head-dress,  a  warm,  short  coat  when  out 
walking,  bicycle  riding,  or  when  engaged  in  any  other 
outdoor  sport  or  exercise.  When  out  riding  in  an  open 
carriage  she  wears  a  long,  heavy  overcoat  and  other 
garments  to  correspond  and  suit  the  taste  of  the  occa- 
sion. 

"The  gentlemen,  for  common  use,  also  wear  plain 
felt  hats,  somewhat  larger  than  the  ladies';  a 'fancy' 
shirt,  with  collar  and  cuffs  of  the  same  material 
attached;  a  neat,  delicate  necktie,  and  suits  and  under- 
wear not  unlike  yours  here. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  347 

"  Of  course,  every  lady,  as  well  as  every  gentle- 
man, has  a  large  number  of  suits  and  other  changes, 
made  up  in  widely  different  styles  to  suit  the  occasion, 
as  each  individual  sees  fit.  In  a  state  of  high  culture 
and  a  well-developed  esthetic  sense,  the  mind  appre- 
ciates variety,  accompanied  with  health,  convenience, 
comfort  and  beauty.  Some  suits  and  garments  are  for 
the  fore  part  of  the  day,  some  for  labor,  some  for  leis- 
ure, some  for  the  latter  part  of  the  day.  Some  are 
almost  tights;  such  as,  for  some  games,  bicycle-riding, 
etc.;  some  are  very  loose  and  thin  during  hot  weather; 
some  for  the  public  parlors,  some  for  the  halls,  some 
for  visiting,  some  for  travel,  some  for  each  occupation; 
some  for  the  private  apartment,  when  alone;  some  for 
the  private  apartment,  when  one  has  company,  etc. 

"  From  what  I  have  said  about  clothes,  it,  no  doubt, 
becomes  plain  to  you  that,  in  a  world  and  age  in  which 
people  appreciate  good  health,  love  liberty,  enjoy  real 
comfort  and  esteem  the  greatest  conveniences,  there 
is  no  room  for  an  unmanageable  hat,  tight  shoes, 
tightly  laced  corsets,  a  plug  hat,  stiff  shirtfronts  and 
skirts  of  any  kind,  whether  short  or  trailing.  From 
historical  knowledge  you  all  know  that  in  'olden  times' 
your  men  wore  shirts  and  other  flowing  gowns,  the 
same  as  your  ladies  still  do.  But  your  men,  in  your 
highest  civilized  countries  at  least,  on  account  of  hav- 
ing a  little  more  freedom  to  act,  have  long  outgrown 
the  skirt  and  robe,  except,  perhaps,  a  few  priests  ;  and 
just  so  will  your  women  outgrow  them  as  they  become 
a  little  more  independent  socially,  industrially  finan- 
cially and  sexually.  A  good  sign  of  the  coming 
changCnis,  that  a  few  of  your  foremost  ladies  have 
already  laid  aside  their  skirts. 


34^  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    fXDIVIDUALISM. 

"  Our  dress,  then,  as  you  will  infer  from  my  descrip- 
tion, is  all  made  of  the  best  and  finest  fabrics,  of  end- 
less variety  in  style,  scrupulously  clean,  handsomely 
made,  perfectly  comfortable,  highly  healthful,  remark- 
ably convenient  yet  extremely  simple. 

"I  am  well  aware  that  some  of  your  so-called  fashion- 
able ladies  and  your  dudish  gentlemen,  who  are  not  in- 
frequently trying  to  hide  their  ill-health  partly  con- 
tracted from  their  unnatural  dress,  with  paint,  would 
sneer  at  our  plain,  tidy,  comfortable  costume,  no  matter 
how  clean  and  healthful  it  be.  But,  I  am  certain,  that  our 
clean,  plain,  convenient  dress  would  not  seem  so  strange 
and  ridiculous  to  you  as  your  unnatural,  pinching  and, 
am  sorry  to  say,  too  often  soiled  garments  would  appear 
to  us.  Just  think  how  your  ladies,  who  are  forbidden 
by  your  one-sided  society  to  solicit  the  love  of  their 
choice,  must  decorate  and  ornament  themselves  in 
gaudy  costumes  to  attract  attention  in  order  to  catch  a 
husband,  or  be  left  without  one  in  your  cruel  social  and 
industrial  world  in  which  a  single  woman  has  but  a  slim 
chance  of  making  a  comfortable  living.  So  much  for 
dress." 

"How  about  exercise,  Mr.  Midith?"  asked  Mrs. 
Uwins.  "Do  you  consider  it  very  essential  to  full 
development  and  good  health,  and,  if  so,  how  do  you 
teach  it?" 

"W'e  teach  that  healthful  outdoor  exercise  is  abso- 
lutely essential  for  the  highest  physical  and  mental 
development  and  for  the  maintenance  of  good  health. 
We  think  it  is  one  of  the  most  invigorating  forms  of 
food  a  person  can  take;  and  we  teach  how  to  take  it  on 
the  same  principle  as  we  teach  other  things.  The 
adults  practice  it  in  the  presence  of  the  young,  and  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  349 

child  naturally  takes  to  it  by  imitation  and  pleasure 
under  our  favorable  conditions. 

"  First,  before  our  babies  can  walk,  they  are  taken 
out  in  baby-carriages,  tricycles  made  for  carrying 
babies,  electric  carriages,  motors  and  trains.  When  the 
weather  is  pleasant,  they  play  in  the  outdoor  nurseries; 
when  unpleasant,  they  are  in  the  house-nurseries  and 
other  parts  of  the  'big-house.'  As  soon  as  they  are  a 
little  older,  but  still  require  a  nurse  with  them,  they  are 
taken  into  the  parks,  lakes  and  fields.  Our  children  are 
left  without  a  nurse  at  a  very  young  age.  They  choose 
their  own  games,  their  own  exercises  and  their  own 
amount  of  labor.  As  I  have  said  before,  we  do  not 
govern  our  children  by  physical  force.  All  our  build- 
ings and  other  things  are  as  much  constructed  and 
arranged  with  a  view  to  suit  and  accommodate  the 
wants  and  desires  of  the  child  as  the  wants  and  desires 
of  the  adult.  Our  railroads  and  motor-lines  are  all 
fenced,  so  that  no  danger  can  befall  them  there.  We 
have  no  open  wells  and  cisterns.  The  doors  and  gates 
are  nearly  all  self-closing  and  noiseless.  Lamps  and 
matches  are  rarely  used.  Our  principal  aim  is  to  pro- 
vide a  suitable  school-house,  and  then  let  the  child's 
environment  impress  it  with  useful  information. 

"As  our  children  grow  older,  they  begin  to  do  light 
work,  both  in  the  house  and  outdoors,  which  serves  as 
part  of  the  physical  exercise  necessary  for  full  devel- 
opment and  vigorous  health.  This  daily  work  we  gen- 
erally keep  up  as  long  as  we  live.  Not  that  we  are 
obliged  to  do  so  on  account  of  poverty,  but,  because 
by  long,  delightful  practice  our  daily  labor  has  become 
pleasurable  exercise.  The  work  is  easy,  the  day  is 
very  short,  and  the  exercise  of  it,  we  believe,  conduces 


350  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

to  the  fullness  of  life.  JJ'orl\  as  we  have  seen  under 
these  conditions,  gradually  changes  into  play.  Your 
people  here  despise  and  condemn  labor  so,  because 
your  working-day  is  so  long,  your  labor  so  hard,  your 
conveniences  so  few,  your  pay  so  small,  and  your  bosses 
so  cruel  and  dictatorial.  That  is,  your  manual  and 
industrial  school-houses  are  not  well-furnished.  You 
have  careless,  incompetent  directors  and  teachers  in 
these  branches  of  instruction. 

"During  our  leisure  hours,  which  are,  of  course,  very 
numerous,  men,  women  and  children  go  out  walking, 
bicycle  riding,  swimming,  playing  outdoor  games,  and 
ride  on  carriages,  motors  and  trains.  When  the 
weather  is  unpleasant,  we  take  our  exercise  in  our  large 
halls  and  parlors.  The  upper  story  of  our  main  build- 
ing is  covered  with  glass.  This  enables  our  children 
and  ourselves  to  get  all  the  sunshine  we  want  during 
our  clear,  cold  winter  weather.  A  ride  or  walk  around 
this  great  hall  is  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  In 
taking  exercise,  as  in  everything  else,  we  make  our 
feelings  the  guide  of  how  long  we  ought  to  continue. 
As  soon  as  we  feel  fatigued  we  cease  our  exercise, 
whether  it  be  work  or  play. 

"You  see  there  is  a  great  difference  here  between 
our  system  and  yours.  You  have  a  large  class  of  peo- 
ple; in  fact,  nearly  all  who  have  to  over-exercise  by 
manual  labor — have  to  work  themselves  stiff  and 
deformed.  Then  you  have  another  class  who  take 
scarcely  any  outdoor  exercise — your  city  ladies,  etc.  It 
seems  that  yo'u  do  not  appreciate  a  robust  lady.  You 
teach  her  that  she  must  remain  quietly  at  home  until 
her  suitor  comes  to  take  her  out;  and  he,  perhaps,  has 
his  other  girl  out.     Your  society  forbids  your  maidens 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  351 

to  take  a  bicycle  or  a  carriage  to  go  after  their  suitors 
except  on  occasional  sham  leap-year  parties  The 
majority  of  your  married  city  ladies,  under  the  burdens 
of  husband  and  children,  are  entirely  unable  to  take 
suHicient  outdoor  exercise;  and  even  if  they  had  the 
time  and  opportunity,  they  would  have  no  other  place 
tor  It  than  a  smoky  city  and  a  muddy  sidewalk." 

"That  is  very  true!"  exclaimed  Mrs.  Uwins  "Over- 
work on  the  one  hand,  and  want  of  healthful  outdoor 
exercise  on  the  other,  are  playing  sad  havoc  with 
hea  h  here  We  see  very  few  graceful  forms  and 
Healthy  looking  faces  as  we  pass  along  the  streets  of 
our  cities  and  towns. 

"This  reminds  me  of  a  question  I  wanted  to  ask 
you  sometime  ago,"  continued  Mrs.  Uwins,  "and  that 
IS,  How  do  you  teach  regularity  of  habits?  For  you 
undoubtedly  are  orderly,  prompt,  and  regular  in  your 
Habits.  Health  requires  regular  intervals  of  alternate 
activity  and  rest,  which  vary  with  age  and  other  con- 
ditions. 

"Yes,    we    attach    a   great    deal    of   importance    to 
order,  promptness  and  regular  habits.    We  teach  them 
to  our  children  by  practicing  them  ourselves.     We  are 
regular  with  our  set   meals,   our  work,  our  leisure   our 
exercises,   our  studies,    our  bathing,  our  dressing,  our 
games,  our  rising,  and  our  retiring.     We  have  learned 
by  sad  experience,  the  same  lessons  that  you   are   now 
learning;  the  lessons  that  regular  periods  of   rest  and 
sleep  are  absolutely  necessary  to  good  vigorous  health 
and  as  we  aim  to  make  all  our  conduct  conform  to  the 
phenomena  of  life   and    health,    it   is   certain  that  we 
Have  acquired  regular  orderly  habits  of  life. 

"You   see   our  social  and  industrial  system  allows 


05- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 


US  plenty  of  leisure  time  for  sports,  during  the  day; 
we  need  not  steal  it  from  our  night's  rest,  like  you  do 
at  your  night  dances  and  parties,  at  which  a  large 
number  dance,  drink,  and  not  infrequently  debauch 
all  night  and  work  hard  all  next  day.  No  one  could 
induce  us  to  do  that.  About  eight  or  nine  o'clock  in 
the  evening,  we  all  retire  to  rest  in  our  own  private 
apartments,  and  soon  after  everything  is  as  quiet  and 
silent  as  death.  We,  no  doubt,  would  be  called  cowards 
by  you  for  not  daring  to  infringe  on  our  health  by  a 
night's  carousal,  the  same  as  you  would  be  called 
cowards  by  your  savages  for  not  daring  to  do  what  a 
cannibal  delights  in  doing.  When  I  first  learned  of 
your  irregular  night's  habits,  they  seemed  perfectly 
cruel  and  barbarous  to  me.  How  men,  and  some 
women,  too,  were  all  night  long  under  the  influence  of 
liquor;  how  they  exercised  themselves  into  perspira- 
tion; how  all  human  decency  wilted  in  them; 
how  women  sold  themselves  in  order  to  make  a 
living;  how  they  were  betrayed  and  deceived  when 
life  and  ambition  were  nearly  extinct;  how  children, 
hungry  and  half-dressed,  were  lying  all  around  sleep- 
ing. When  I  saw  all  these  violations,  besides  count- 
less others,  my  astonishment  of  meeting  so  many  faces 
bearing  the  marks  of  disease  and  dissipation  gradually 
vanished.  I  thought  it  so  strange  that  nien  and  women 
could  not  see  the  injurious  effects  of  such  a  night's 
career,  or  that  they  could  be  so  careless  and  indifferent 
to  health. 

"It  was  in  the  foregoing  field  of  contemplation  that 
I  first  noticed  most  clearly  the  utter  viciousness  of 
your  social  and  physiological  school,  your  feebleness 
and  impracticability  of  your  methods  of  teaching,  and 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  353 

of  your  boasted  civilization  and  institutions  of  learn- 
ing. To  me  they  seemed  a  mere  mockery.  Your 
so-called  superior  rarely  ever  did  himself  what  he 
preached.  Your  lessons  nearly  always  consisted  of 
words  only. 

"There  are  numerous  other  topics  of  physiology 
that  we  teach  in  a  similar  manner  as  the  foregoing. 

"All  apartments  of  our  dwellings  are  abundantly 
ventilated  and  lighted,  either  naturally  or  artificially, 
by  the  straight  or  refracted  sunbeam." 

"Mr.  Midith,  how  do  you  teach  history?"  asked  Mr. 
Uwins.  "I  believe  that  we  are  wasting  much  valuable 
time  in  studying  comparatively  worthless  history,"  con- 
tinued Mr.  Uwins.  "We  largely  teach  dates,  battles, 
names  of  rulers,  explorers,  discoverers,  names  of  relig- 
ious denominations  to  which  they  belonged,  the  size, 
weight,  and  temperament  of  kings  and  queens,  the 
ones  whom  they  married,  how  many  divorces  they  ob- 
tained, how  many  cattle  they  owned,  how  many  years 
the  king  survived  the  queen,  the  composition  of  their 
crown,  etc. 

"All  this  is  of  comparatively  little  value  and  soon 
forgotten,  because  it  does  not  depend  on  principle.  It 
does  not  'conduce  to  the  fullness  of  life.'  It  does  not 
make  our  homes  brighter  and  happier.  It  does  not  ele- 
vate the  people.  It  does  not  improve  our  intellect.  In 
my  opinion,  it  is  immeasurably  more  useful  and  impor- 
tant for  us  to  know  how  to  enlarge  the  power  of  pre- 
vision— 'power  of  looking  into  the  future' — by  which 
we  are  enabled  to  avoid  or  remove  the  stumbling  blocks 
of  the  future,  so  as  to  leave  the  road  of  progress  in  the 
future  less  bloody  than  we  have  left  it  in  the  past.  To 
know  that  it  is  a  plausible  presumption  that  the  latQ 


354  PKACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

Civil  War  in  the  United  States  augmented,  in  one  form 
or  another,  the  aggregate  slavery,  is  worth  much  more 
than  a  thousand  trivialities  of  chronological  history. 
An  acquaintance  of  these  principles  enables  us  to  avoid 
conflicts  in  the  future,  but  no  amount  of  chronological 
matter  will." 

"Our  idea  of  history,  Mr.  Uwins,  is  almost  similar  to 
yours.  We  have  long  ceased  to  study  and  commit  to 
memory  such  trivialities  of  history  as  you  have  just 
mentioned.  We  endeavor  to  develop  historical  princi- 
ples, which  enable  us  to  unlock  the  future  by  the  experi- 
ence of  the  past.  The  philosophical  part  of  history  is 
the  valuable  portion.  The  science  of  history  did  not 
develop  as  rapidly  with  us  as  nearly  all  other  sciences, 
and  I  find  the  same  to  be  true  with  you  also.  But  we 
have  now  some  very  excellent  historical  productions; 
productions  by  the  side  of  which  Mr.  Buckle's  history 
appears  to  be  in  its  infancy." 

"How  do  you  teach  the  higher  sciences?"  asked 
Rev.  Dudley. 

"We  have  a  laboratory  which  is  in  charge  of  an 
expert  chemist.  In  this  laboratory  we  keep  a  full  sup- 
ply of  apparatus,  drugs  and  chemicals;  we  can  get  all 
the  practice  and  information  we  desire.  We  also  have 
a  scientific  department  well  supplied  with  philosophi- 
cal apparatus  of  all  kinds.  This  department  is  in 
charge  of  able  scientists  who  will  give  you  all  desired 
information.  We  have  an  inventor's  shop  fitted  up 
with  all  necessaries.  In  astronomy,  our  apparatus  is 
grand  and  almost  perfect.  Biology,  zoology,  psychol- 
ogy, etc.,  we  learn  by  practical  experience,  by  indi- 
vidual inquiry,  by  reading,  by  lectures,  and  in  countless 
other  ways. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  355 

"  Wc  must  here  keep  in  mind  that  not  all  instruc- 
tion furnishes  the  mind  with  useful  information.  For 
example:  If  we  were  taught  that  fire  does  not  burn, 
such  teaching  would  be  worse  than  no  teaching  ;  be- 
cause it  stores  the  mind  with  falsehood  which  requires 
evidence  to  remove  before  we  can  get  at  the  truth  of 
the  case.  So  in  all  other  cases  where  falsehood  and 
superstition  are  taught  as  truth.  That  knowledge  only 
which  adjusts  us  more  and  more  in  accord  with  the 
facts  of  the  universe  is  worth  learning.  We  should 
strive  only  for  the  acquisition  of  that  intelligence 
which  makes  us  better,  and,  therefore,  happier  men, 
women  and  children;  all  other  knowledge  is  not  worth 
learning. 

"  I  now  wish  to  compare  a  few  of  your  educational 
lessons  with  ours  ;  but,  before  I  proceed,  let  me  again 
tell  you  that  I  do  not  mean  to  cast  any  reflections  on 
your  mode  of  living,  on  your  manner  of  eating,  on 
your  style  of  dress,  nor  on  your  methods  of  teaching. 
I  am  fully  convinced  that  you,  the  same  as  all  other 
beings,  are  doing  the  best  you  have  learned.  I  am  also 
further  convinced  that  we  deserve  no  particular  praise  for 
our  somewhat  advanced  stages  of  intellectual  culture. 
All  sentient  beings  are  creatures  of  circumstances,  over 
which  they  have  no  control.  None  of  us  can  act  be- 
yond the  sphere  of  our  highest  endowments.  We  must 
either  act  zuithin  this  limit  or  be  quiescent.  Our  per- 
sonal and  ancestral  environment  impresses  us  with 
intelligence,  and  that  organized  intelligence  is  the  mo- 
tive force  that  impels  all  of  7(s  and  all  of  yoii-  to  act  in 
accordance  as  we  are  connected  with  the  chain  of  ante- 
cedents to  our  present  being.  A  longer  lapse  of  time 
and  more  favorable  conditions  have  made  us  what  we 


356  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

are,  and,  no  doubt,  the  same  conditions,  as  they  come 
to  pass  on  earth,  will  bring  you  where  we  are  now  on 
Mars.  So  please  bear  in  mind  that  all  the  comments  I 
shall  make  concerning  your  affairs  and  institutions  are 
made  from  a  sincere  motive,  and  not  with  a  view  of 
casting  reflections. 

"  It  is,  no  doubt,  natural  and  good  for  the  advance- 
ment of  humanity  on  all  planets  that  we  all  find  greater 
delight  in  having  our  good  qualities  pointed  out  than 
we  do  in  being  reminded  of  our  faults  ;  but  we  must 
know  our  faults  before  we  can  consciously  correct 
them,  and  with  this  view,  I  shall  endeavor  to  make 
what  I  consider  some  of  your  faults,  as  conspicuous  as 
possible,  and  I  invite  you  to  do  the  same  with  me. 

"  Your  system  of  education  is  too  much  confined  to 
a  cheerless  building,  which  you  call  a  school-house. 
That  these  public  school-houses  are  unnatural,  cheer- 
less places,  may  be  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  scarcely 
any  of  your  adults  and  parents  ever  visit  them;  for,  if 
they  were  natural  and  agreeable,  they  certainly  would. 
The  management  of  your  so-called  school  is  too  much 
in  the  hands  of  scheming  politicians.  You  employ,  as 
a  rule,  cruel,  incompetent  teachers.  You  resort  to 
physical  force — first,  to  support  the  public  school  by 
compulsory  taxation  ;  and,  secondly,  to  procure  the 
pupil's  attendance,  both  of  which  are,  in  our  view, 
injurious,  unjust  and  despotic.  In  a  good  system  of 
education,  the  school-room  is  perfectly  free,  natural 
and  co-extensive  with  the  sphere  of  man's  activity.  In 
a  successful  school  every  one  is  teacher  and  pupil  at 
the  same  time.  Now,  in  making  these  criticisms,  let 
us  begin  at  the  foundation  ;    let  us  look  for  the  causes. 

"In  the  first  place,  your  social,  industrial  and  sexual 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  357 

conditions  of  nearly  all  your  parents,  and  especially  of 
your  mothers,  are  so  pitiful  that  it  is  scarcely  possible 
for  them  to  bring  forth  descendants  with  a  kind,  pleas- 
ant disposition.  The  parental  silence,  crabbedness, 
toil,  care  and  ill-temper  concomitant  with  your  present 
conditions,  are  generally  stamped  on  the  child's  count- 
enance and  grafted  in  its  constitution  long  before  it  is 
born.  The  people  of  earth  quarrel  and  fight  too  much 
among  yourselves,  with  your  neighbors,  and  with 
nations  to  produce  and  rear  a  gentle,  non-aggressive, 
peace-loving  child.  You  must  remember  that  all 
social  beings  are  teachers,  either  for  good  or  for  bid. 
The  home  and  daily  social  intercourse  are  the  most 
effective  school.  Just  as  the  adult  is,  nearly  so  will 
the  child  be.  If  the  adult  is  jealous,  aggressive,  ignor- 
ant, superstitious,  dishonest,  intemperate,  and  rude  in 
his  conduct,  so  will  the  child  be.  Hence  our  principal 
object  in  education  should  be  to  educate  ourselves. 

"After  birth,  especially  during  the  first  stages  of 
infancy,  your  care  and  attention  given  to  the  mother 
and  child  is  almost  always  inadequate  and  improper. 
The  care,  toil,  anxiety,  ill-health,  your  pernicious  sex- 
relations,  and  very  frequently  the  poverty  of  your 
mothers  generally  affect  for  ill  the  maternal  nourish- 
ment given  to  the  child.  By  this  early  lesson,  the 
child,  through  the  instrumentality  of  its  food,  becomes 
partly  like  its  mother  from  the  effects  of  its  mother's 
bad  condition.  Thus  its  pernicious  education  begins 
at  an  age  when  the  child  is  yet  unconscious  of  its 
surroundings.  Your  practice  of  rocking  a  child  is  also 
a  bad  lesson. 

"When  your  child  gets  a  little  older,  I  notice  that 
nearly  all  your  parents  teach  their  babies,    in   an  un- 


35^^  PRACTICAI,    CO-OPERATIVK    INDIVIDUALISM. 

conscious  way,  to  become  cry-babies  and  bawlers; 
this  assertion  may  seem  strange  to  many  of  you,  but  it 
is  nevertheless  a  fact. 

"I  have  noticed  in  my  travels  thousands  of  chil- 
dren, some  younger  and  some  older,  that  would  set  up 
a  cry  as  soon  as  the  mother  would  appear  in  their 
presence  or  sit  down,  and  no  doubt  all  of  you  have 
seen  the  same.  You  see  the  cry-baby  has  discovered 
that  its  mother  or  some  one  else  will  take  it  up  as  soon 
as  it  sets  up  a  cry.  With  this  cry-weapon,  it  has  been 
successful  so  often  that  it  will  constantly  employ  it  as 
a  means  to  gain  its  end,  and  every  such  successful 
effort  makes  the  cry  louder  and  longer  and  more 
frequent,  if  necessary. 

"  But  the  foregoing  lesson  is  by  no  means  the  worst 
one  I  have  seen  your  parents  and  nurses  teach  your 
children  during  infancy.  I  have  met  a  number  of  cases 
where  a  child  completely  tyrannized  over  the  mother, 
and  over  the  whole  family;  that  it  would  first  cry  and 
bawl  in  order  to  be  taken,  then  to  have  the  taker  walk 
the  floor  with  it,  and  then,  in  a  few  extreme  cases,  have 
the  taker  nm  instead  of  walk  the  floor.  I  have  also 
seen  where  a  mere  infant  was  so  well  trained  by  mis- 
chievous instruction  that  it  would  set  up  a  fierce  cry 
whenever  the  walking  mother  or  nurse  would  come 
anywhere  near  a  chair  or  sofa,  upon  which  she  would 
apparently  seat  herself.  I  have,  furthermore,  seen  hun- 
dreds of  children  here  on  earth  whose  training  has  been 
so  unnatural  that  they  would  not  retire  without  the 
mother  or  nurse  lying  down  with  them,  soothing  them 
to  sleep,  or  without  rocking  them  to  sleep.  All 
these  cry-babies  enforce  their  mandates  by  a  cry 
or  bawl;    and   the   more   the   cry-baby    is  successful 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  359 

the  more  it  will  employ  this  weapon,  which  can  be 
wielded  with  so  much  success  among  those  who  are 
not  much  familiar  with  human  nature  and  with  human 
welfare.  Our  children  scarcely  ever  cry.  We  do  not 
teach  them  to  cry.  We  give  them  the  very  best  of 
care  and  attention,  but  let  them  know  from  the  begin- 
ning that  they  can  not  only  not  accomplish  anything 
by  crying,  but  that  they,  by  crying,  bring  upon  them- 
selves the  displeasure  of  all  their  companions.  We 
never  take  a  child  or  infant  because  it  cries.  And  if  it 
should  begin  to  cry  while  in  our  lap,  we  would  imme- 
diately put  it  down  and  not  take  it  again  until  it  puts 
on  a  siniling  face.  Thus,  you  see,  we  teach  our  infants 
and  children  from  the  earliest  beginning  to  employ 
pleasant,  agreeable  means  to  accomplish  their  pur- 
poses, while  your  infants  and  children,  with  your  vi- 
cious methods  of  teaching,  accomplish  their  objects  by 
setting  up  a  cry  or  bawl,  and  sometimes  this  cry  in- 
cludes the  greater  part  of  the  day  and  night." 

"  But  what  would  you  do  with  a  crying  baby  if  you 
had  strangers  in  the  house?"  asked  Viola. 

"  Why,  I  would  do  the  same  as  I  would  if  there  were 
no  stranger.  I  would  always  employ  those  known 
means  that  would  produce  the  best  results,  whether 
strangers  or  no  strangers.  As  I  have  stated  before,  if 
a  child  receives  the  proper  training  from  infancy,  it 
rarely  ever  cries.  The  greatest  cry-baby,  I  think,  can 
be  cured  from  the  annoying  habit  of  crying  by  proper 
training  and  kind  treatment  in  a  few  months'  time,  but 
not  by  your  method  of  training.  I  have  often  noticed 
in  your  private  families,  who  have  strangers  or  guests 
with  them,  that  the  mother  would  try  every  means  but 
the  right  one  to  keep  her  child  from  crying,  so  as   not 


360  PRACTICAL    CO-OPEKATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

to  aiino\-  her  guests  or  boarders;  but  the  more  she  tried 
the  ^neater  was  her  failure;  the  more  she  amused  and 
humored  the  child  the  more  it  cried  for  amusement. 
Tluis  licr  companions  become  the  victims  of  a  nuisance 
caused  by  the  mother's  inadequate  knowledge  of  hu- 
man nature.  Children,  as  well  as  adults,  should  be  free 
to  make  their  own  amusements.  The  intent  of  those 
who  produce  this  vast  army  of  cry-babies  and  ill-tem- 
pered children  is,  no  doubt,  as  good  as  that  of  the 
Inquisitor  and  witch-killer  was;  but  for  all  that  it  is  a 
lamentable  defect. 

"  Again,  let  us  not  forget  that  the  pernicious  effect 
of  this  cry-lesson  does  not  end  here.  There  is  a  still 
deeper  and  more  fatal  e\'il  connected  with  it.  To  illus- 
trate: Crying  involves  an  expenditure  of  x'itality,  not 
only  on  the  crier,  but  also  on  those  who  make  an  effort 
to  silence  the  crier,  and  on  all  who  are  annoyed   by    it. 

"Once  more:  A  child  that  has  fallen,  or  has  hurt 
itself  otherwise,  in  a  way  for  which  nothing  can  be  done 
to  alleviate  the  pain,  should  not  be  picked  up  or  be 
soothed  by  parents  and  adults.  It  should  be  made  to 
understand  that  it  came  to  grief  by  its  own  acts — by  a 
violation  of  a  natural  law.  If  under  these  conditions, 
it  receives  sympathy  from  others,  it  will  soon  cry  for 
it.  The  sufferer,  if  sympathy  is  lavished  upon  it,  will 
begin  to  infer  that  the  injury  was  brought  about  by  a 
personal  agency  controlled  and  influenced  by  the  sym- 
pathizers. The  child  should  learn  as  early  as  possible 
that  the  so-called  laws  of  nature  are  constant  and  uni- 
form, and  do  not  bend  to  suit  its  whims,  but  that  its 
conduct  must  conform  to  the  laws.  The  latter  course 
will  tend  to    make    a    child    intelligent    and    look    for 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  361 

causes,  while  the  former  makes  it  superstitious  and 
ignorant. 

"Some  mothers  tell  me  that  my  way  of  treating  and 
teaching  infants  and  children  in  these  cases  is  cruel, 
cold  and  distant.  But  the  real  trouble  is  that  these 
mothers  and  others  do  not.  see  their  o%vn  cruelty  and 
indifference.  The  cruelties  and  negligence  these 
mothers  practice  on  their  children  are  pefectly  shock- 
ing to  me.  They  are  cruelties  which  their  poor  chil- 
dren must  carry  with  them  all  their  lives.  Let  me  see 
if  I  can  make  my  meaning  clear  to  you.  Crying, 
especially  when  accompanied  with  anger,  is  a  violent 
strain  on  the  nervous  system  ;  it  also  causes  a  physio- 
logical waste,  which  must  be  repaired  by  additional 
food.  Now  this  additional  food  tends  to  impair  diges- 
tion, and  the  impaired  digestion  affects  circulation — 
the  function  of  the  heart.  Thus,  the  violent  exertion 
of  crying,  which  is  nearly  all  brought  about  by  your 
vicious  training  and  teaching,  produces  nervousness, 
weakness  and  general  ill-health.  Nearly  all  your 
children  one  meets  are  affected  more  or  less  in  this 
manner;  and  children  who  are  affected  thus  would  con- 
tinue to  be  fretful  for  a  while,  no  matter  how  favorable 
the  conditions  would  be  made  ;  yes,  even  if  they  were 
taken  in  the  society  of  Mars.  It  seems  so  strange  to 
me  that  parents  can  not  see  these  plain  facts  ;  but,  as 
a  rule,  they  do  not  see  them  here,  and  seem  to  care 
less  about  discovering  them.  Thus  many  of  your  par- 
ents make  imbeciles  of  their  children  and  they  do  not 
know  it  ;  and  if  this  is  not  cruelty  and  coldness,  I  am 
sure  I  do  not  know  what  is. 

"Allow  me  to  inform  you  of  one  other  very  vicious 
practice  in  your  nursery.     Long-continued  superfluous 


362  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVinUALISM. 

paternalism  and  parental  assistance,  like  many  of  your 
parents  and  other  adults  unwisely  lavish  upon  off- 
spring, even  at  the  present  age  of  your  world,  greatly 
and  perniciously  lengthen  the  period  of  infancy  in  an 
i?idividual.  Many  of  your  young  men  and  women  are, 
on  this  account,  little  more  than  grown-up  babies,  hav- 
ing scarcely  any  self-reliance  and  originality.  Thus  is 
the  period  of  infancy  lengthened  in  an  individual;  and 
such  superfluous  paternalism  and  assistance  lavished 
upon  offspring  as  a  raee  during  countless  ages,  is,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Marsites,  one  of  the  causes  of  the  length- 
ened period  of  infancy  and  helplessness  which  we  find 
existing  in  the  offspring  of  the  different  species  of  organ- 
isms, as  we  ascend  in  the  scale  of  the  animal  kingdom. 
But,  as  mankind  rise  to  a  certain  point  of  intelligence, 
they  direct  their  course,  of  action  by  conscious  wisdom 
acquired  by  long-continued  ancestral  and  personal  ex- 
perience, instead  of  following  only  the  thoughtless, 
primitive  instinct. 

"Thus  we  see  that  the  period  of  infancy  is  contin- 
ually lengthened  by  a  rise  of  intelligence  up  to  a  certain 
point,  and  that  from  this  maximum  period  it  slowly 
begins  to  shorten,  as  the  higher  parental  wisdom  and 
truer  affections  make  the  child  constantly  more  self- 
reliant  by  throwing  it,  under  favorable  conditions  and 
at  an  earlier  age,  more  and  more  on  its  own  resources 
and  independence,  by  which  all  the  child's  faculties  are 
harmoniously  unfolded  by  an  earlier  independent 
course  of  action.  This  higher  and  broader  wisdom  of 
the  adult  has,  in  the  course  of  time,  greatly  shortened 
the  period  of  infancy  on  Mars. 

"A  Marsian  child,  as  we  have  alread}'  seen,  has  a 
healthy  and  vigorous  pre-natal  (before  birth)  growth, 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  363 

to  begin  with.  After  birth  it  is  never  over-burdened 
with  manual  labor;  inactivity,  dissipation,  constraint, 
and  paternalism  never  stunt  the  full  development  of 
body  and  mind,  and  poverty  leaves  no  regretful  marks 
on  its  after-life,  while  your  children  on  earth,  as  a  rule, 
are,  on  the  one  hand,  largely  over-burdened  with  toil- 
some labor  and  a  vicious  pre-natal  existence,  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  inactivity,  dissipation,  constraint, 
paternalism  and  poverty  nearly  always  prevent  the 
full  and  harmonious  unfoldment  of  their  faculties,  and 
this  tends  to  lengthen  the  period  of  infancy  and  help- 
lessness. 

"There  is  still  one  other  lesson,  which,  of  all  the 
countless  bad  lessons  you  teach,  is  perhaps  the  worst 
one.  I  mean,  of  course,  the  flogging  of  children.  To 
begin  with,  under  right  conditions,  it  is  not  only  use- 
less, but  actually  harmful  in  all  its  consequences.  It 
irritates  both  parent  and  child.  It  makes  a  tyrant  of 
the  stronger  and  a  slave  of  the  weaker.  It  teaches  a 
child  to  be  cruel,  because  one  who  is  reared  in  an 
atmosphere  of  cruelty  can  not  help  being  cruel  him- 
self. This  instruction  dwarfs  and  often  withers  the 
higher  feelings  of  affection  and  amiability. 

"For  my  part,  I  do  not  see  how  a  parent  or  friend 
can  gather  around  the  bedside  of  his  sick  or  dying 
child  whom  he  has  misused.  How  he  can,  during  its 
dying  hour,  gently  press  these  poor,  tiny  fingers  with 
that  hand,  which,  more  than  once,  cruelly  struck  it. 
How  he  can  look  into  those  longing,  wide-open,  staring 
eyes  from  which  he  has  often  caused  the  tears  to  flow. 
How,  after  such  despotism,  such  kicks  and  cuffs,  he 
can  draw  nearer  to  those  arms  which  are  so  imploringly 
stretched  put  toward   him  in  its  agony,  when  the  last 


364  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM; 

tremor  gently  steals  over  the  voiceless  lips  of  that 
suffering,  dying  child.  How  he  can  impress  a  parting 
kiss  on  those  open,  pallid  lips,  which  he  has  often 
crvielly  hushed.  How  he  can  gaze  on  those  pale 
sunken  cheeks  that  were  once  so  round  and  ros)\  How 
he  can  smooth  the  forehead  which  is  now  covered  with 
cold  perspiration  with  that  same  hand  which  not  long 
before  outraged  it  with  violence.  How  he  can  remove 
the  pressure  from  the  heaving  bosom,  gasping  for 
breath.  How  he  can,  in  the  last  moment  of  its  life, 
embrace  one  whom  he  has  treated  more  like  a  slave 
than  like  an  equal.  How  he  can  summon  sufficient 
courage  to  cast  the  last  look  at  the  now  poor,  pale, 
withered,  lifeless  handful  of  dust  that  was  once  aglow 
with  life  and  health.  How  he  can  repress  the  tears  of 
regret  and  repentance  when  bitter  recollections  of 
abuse,  negligence,  and  violence  committed  on  that 
harmless,  innocent,  lifeless  little  prattler,  come  crowd- 
ing thick  and  fast  into  his  memory. 

"  It  maybe  that  the  earthly  inhabitants  can  see  how 
all  these  things  can  easily  be  done  ;  but  for  a  Marsite 
they  would  seem  almost  impossible.  Here,  then,  a 
mundane  being  can  do  what  would  seem  utterly  im- 
possible for  a  Marsite  to  do. 

"  But  the  evil  training  of  your  youths  does  not  end 
here.  For  example:  Nearly  all  your  parents,  teach- 
ers, preachers  and  other  persons  take  the  part  of  a 
child  complaining  against  the  conduct  of  another 
child.  This  is  one  of  the  most  unholy  lessons  you  can 
teach.  Let  me  illustrate  my  meaning  more  clearly.  A 
number  of  children  are  playing  outdoors.  One  strikes 
or  otherwise  offends  another.  The  offended  one  will 
bejjin  to  bawl   in  order   to   attract  the  attention  of  the 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  365 

mother  in  the  house,  or  it  will  go  to  the  mother  to 
state  its  actual  or  imaginary  grievances.  The  mother, 
who,  as  a  rule,  knows  very  little  about  human  nature, 
immediately  loses  her  temper  and  plays  general  havoc 
with  the  real  or  supposed  offender;  first,  by  asking 
him  a  series  of  questions  which  tend  to  make  a  liar 
out  of  the  child,  and  secondly,  by  beating  the  offender, 
which  act  makes  a  worse  despot  out  of  the  mother 
than  the  offending  child  was.  But  remember  that  this 
is  not  all  the  harmful  results  brought  about  by  your 
method  on  this  point.  If,  during  the  inquiry,  the  child 
believes  it  can  escape  further  punishment  by  telling  a 
falsehood,  nine  times  out  of  ten  it  is  tempted  to  do  so, 
in  order  to  get  out  of  its  predicament.  Thus  it  be- 
comes plain  that  the  mother's  course  of  action  offers  a 
premium  on  lying." 

"  But  what  would  you  do  with  such  an  offender?  " 
asked  Rev.  Dudley.  "Would  you  let  one  child  pound 
and  abuse  another  without  interfering?  Would  you  let 
your  neighbor's  child  kick  and  beat  your  own?" 

"Let  me  explain.  Rev.  Dudley,"  said  Mr.  Midith. 
"  My  reply  to  the  first  part  of  your  interrogatory  is  that 
I  would  change  the  conditions  which  produce  such 
offenders.  Then  you  ask,  'Would  you  let  one  child 
pound  and  otherwise  abuse  another  child,  perhaps  a 
younger  one,  without  interfering?  '  My  reply  to  that 
is,  that  your  very  interfering  made  the  07ie  child  a 
*  pounder,'  as  you  call  him,  and  the  other  one  a  whin- 
ing complainer.  If  your  adults  would  not  resort  to 
'  pounding,'  your  children  would  not.  Your  children 
are  only  imitating  your  example.  What  a  prominent 
part  in  the  mind  of  the  child  the  rod  plays  in  domes- 
tic life  is  demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  whenever  your 


366  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

children  play  house,  the  child  who  represents  the 
father  or  mother  is  generally  applying  the  switch  to  the 
others.  From  what  I  have  seen,  I  believe  that  your 
children  are  not  half  as  cruel  in  many  respects  as  your 
adults  are. 

"  If  you  would  never  give  any  encouragement  or 
attention  to  a  complaining  tattler,  there  would  be 
no  such  tattlers  and  complainers.  It  is  the  encour- 
agement and  success  with  which  the  complainer  meets 
at  your  hands  which  make  him  a  complainer,  and  the 
greater  his  success  the  more  frequently  he  will  resort 
to  it. 

"A  child,  in  order  to  become  the  completest  person, 
must,  from  the  beginning,  be  left  free  to  adjust  its  own 
social  affairs.  All  parental  and  governmental  inter- 
ference and  paternalism  is  a  hindrance  in  the  process 
of  attaining  the  highest  social  plane. 

"Many  of  your  parents  also  require  their  children 
to  get  the  parent's  permission  whenever  the  child  de- 
sires to  go  any  place.  This  method  of  training  like- 
wise tends  to  make  schemers  and  fibbers.  A  child  who 
is  desiring  to  go  some  place  will,  if  it  deems  it  necessary 
to  get  the  parent's  consent,  fabricate  most  any  story  to 
gain  its  point.  Perhaps  most  of  your  parents  now  liv- 
ing know  that  from  personal  experience. 

"Our  children  go  when  and  where  they  please. 
They  are  capable  and  experienced  because  they  have 
been  taught  in  the  school  of  self-reliance  from  infancy. 
We,  as  adults,  have  fitted  our  social  conditions  so  that 
our  self-reliant  child  can  easily  grapple  with  any  emer- 
gency that  it  might  meet.  We  keep  no  places  below 
the  dignity  of  a  child's  presence.  Our  children  never 
tell  fibs  because  we  offer  no    premium*  on  a  lie.     We 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  367 

never  scold  nor  flog  them.  They  know  this,  and  do, 
therefore,  never  hesitate  to  say  what  they  did  and  what 
they  want.  We  treat  them  as  children  that  must  grow 
in  wisdom  by  a  wider  experience.  They  never  tattle 
or  complain  of  their  companion's  conduct  because  we 
never  pay  any  attention  to  their  complaints.  We  have 
no  cry-babies  and  our  children  are  always  models  of 
affection  to  all,  because  they  receive  the  kindest  pos- 
sible treatment  and  the  widest  possible  freedom  consis- 
tent with  their  physical  powers. 

"Thus  for  want  of  a  little  more  psychological  knowl- 
edge, your  people  generally  make  a  cry-baby  and  an 
infantile  tyrant  out  of  the  baby  and  child,  a  drudge  out 
of  the  mother  and  nurse,  and  slaves  out  of  those  who 
are  annoyed  by  the  cries,  confusion  and  noise  made  by 
the  mother  and  child.  By  this  pernicious  instruction, 
you  are  annually  more  than  wasting  millions  of  days  of 
destructive  labor,  which  greatly  lengthens  your  day's 
labor  and  detracts  greatly  from  the  happiness  of  all 
concerned." 

"But  are  you  not  digressing  from  your  subject?" 
asked  Rev.  Dudley.  "I  understood  you  to  say,  Mr. 
Midith,  that  you  were  going  to  compare  our  school  with 
yours.  You  have  been  all  this  while  speaking  of  home 
training  instead  of  school  education.  I  should  like  to 
have  you  show  us  some  defects  in  our  public  school 
system.  It  has  stood  the  criticisms  of  generations  and 
I  believe  that  it  is  almost  perfect." 

"  You  remember.  Rev.  Dudley,  that  I  stated  at  the 
outset  that  any  school  or  system  of  education  that  does 
not  include  the  home  training  is  too  narrow  and  unnat- 
ural," said  Mr.  Midith.  "I  am  aware,  that  I  have  so  far 
not  spoken  in  particular  of  your  public  schools^  as  you 


368  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

call  them.  I  am  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  most  of 
your  people,  I  may  say  nearly  all  of  them,  have 
implicit  faith  in  the  work  of  your  public  schools,  and 
this  pride  is  very  likely  relatively  well-founded. 
Every  stage  of  intellectual  culture  is  accompanied  by 
a  certain  system  of  education  and  training;  and  very 
likely  your  present  public  school,  with  your  social, 
industrial  and  sexual  relations  so  sadly  out  of  tune,  is 
as  good  as  can  acceptably  be  received  by  the  masses. 
It,  very  probably,  just  about  fits  wdth  the  other  condi- 
tions and  institutions  of  your  present  age.  All  that 
any  of  us  can  do,  in  any  world,  is  to  think  our  best 
thoughts  and  use  the  best  means  which  they  bring 
about.  Therefore,  I  shall,  at  least  for  the  present,  not 
attempt  to  deny  but  that  your  public  school  system,  as 
established  in  the  United  States,  is  relatively  good. 

"  What  I  want  to  show  you,  if  I  can,  is  that  your 
public  school  system  is  by  no  means  faultless,  and  that 
all  those  who  are  unprejudiced  and  believe  in  progress 
should  not  feel  satisfied  until  all  its  faults  and  blem- 
ishes are  removed,  for  progress  consists  of  the  process 
of  removing  faults  and  errors;  but  before  we  can  con- 
sciously and  deliberately  remove  a  fault  or  an  error,  we 
must  find  it;  and  as  you  have  requested  me  to  point 
out  the  faults  and  errors  of  your  public  school  system, 
I  shall,  at  least  in  part,  endeavor  to  comply  with  your 
request.  I  say  in  part,  for  I  believe  that  it  would 
require  too  much  time  for  us  to  point  out  all  the  faults 
and  demerits  if  it  were  measured  by  a  Marsian  stand- 
ard of  right  and  wrong,  or  even  if  it  were  judged  by  the 
standard  of  your  own  best  thinkers." 

"Oh,  it  may  be  that  our  public  schools  contain  a 
slight  defect  here'  and  there,  but  I  can  not  see  them, 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  369 

and  I  believe  they  are  quite  difficult  to  find,  too,"  said 
Rev.  Dudley. 

"Let  us  see,  then,  whether  we  can  point  out  a  few 
defects. 

"i.  As  a  rule,  you  demand  your  children,  little  and 
big,  formally  to  attend  your  public  schools  for  six 
hours  a  day.  During  these  six  hours  you  demand  or 
force  them  to  be  quiet  and  silent.;  and  as  a  child  for  its 
full  development  requires  constant  activity  in  all  direc- 
tions, these  demands  are  an  infraction  against  the  laws 
of  youthful  life  and  health. 

"2.  To  create  a  desire  for  inquiry  should  be  the 
chief  aim  in  the  acquisition  of  an  education;  and  the 
development  of  this  desire  you  greatly  frustrate  or  pos- 
itively prevent  by  demanding  your  children  in  your 
public  schools  to  study  just  such  branches  at  just  such 
times.  From  personal  experience  you  well  know  that 
we  do  not  always  desire  to  do  the  same  thing  at  the 
same  time.  No  one  can,  therefore,  prescribe  an  agree- 
able and  useful  course  of  study  for  another.  You  as 
adults  would,  no  doubt,  fiercely  remonstrate  against  the 
enforcement  of  such  an  order,  yet  you  impose  it  on 
your  children  with  impunity  and  with  an  air  of  appar- 
ent duty. 

"3.  Children  who  have  been  kept  quiet  and  silent, 
like  you  keep  them  in  your  so-called  school-rooms  for 
a  disagreeable  length  of  time,  become,  when  set  at  lib- 
erty, rude,  boisterous  and  noisy.  That  is  the  reason 
why  your  school-grounds,  when  the  pupils  during  recess 
are  at  play,  are  such  loud,  rude,  disgusting  places.  The 
artificially  pent-up  vitality  is  overflowing  its  banks. 
Thus  by  the  very  method  by  which  you  intend  to  make 
your  children  kind,  cultivated  and  refined,  you  actually 

24 


370  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

make  them  cruel,  uncultivated  and  boisterous.  Now 
let  us  not  forget  that  all  these  defects  lie  at  the  very 
foundation  of  your  public  school  system  and  are  entirely 
invisible  to  all  superficial  observers. 

"4.  When  many  pupils  like  you  have  in  your  school 
buildings  are,  after  recess,  demanded  to  come  into  the 
school-room  immediately  after  the  ringing  of  the  bell, 
or  other  signal,  they,  for  want  of  time  and  convenience 
of  cleaning  their  shoes,  rush  in  regardless  of  dust  and 
mud.  This  conduct  and  habit  make  children  very 
indifferent  and  careless  of  personal  order  and  cleanli- 
ness. 

"5.  Your  public  school-rooms  also  cause  your  chil- 
dren to  grow  disorderly  and  indifferent  for  want  of 
proper  conveniences.  Many  of  your  schools  require 
pupils  to  use  paper  for  all  their  written  work,  but 
schools  provide  no  waste  baskets  or  other  receptacles 
for  the  waste  paper.  As  a  natural  consequence  the 
waste  paper  is  generally  dropped  on  the  floor.  This 
tends  to  create  a  habit  of  disorder  and  carelessness, 
just  the  opposite  of  what  you  endeavor  to  impart. 

"6.  Perhaps  as  much  as  three-fourths  of  all  your 
studying  in  your  school-room  and  colleges  is  largely 
done  for  the  direct  object  of  recitation,  examination 
and  for  obtaining  diplomas.  The  evidence  in  support 
of  this  proposition  is  that  one  seldom  meets  a  pui)il  in 
your  public  schools  who  cares  enough  for  the  intrinsic 
worth  of  knowledge  that  he  will  study  when  no  lessons 
are  assigned.  A  pupil  who  has  a  desire  for  knowledge 
and  studies  for  the  pleasure  the  intrinsic  value  of  it 
gives,  would  study  even  better  when  no  lessons  are 
assigned,  for  then  he  is  free  to  choose  his  own 
branches.     Your   graduations   have   also    a   very  evil 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  37I 

effect.  They  tend  to  impress  on  the  graduates  the  idea 
that  they  have  finished  their  education  and  need, 
therefore,  no  further  inquiry.  It  appears  very  clear  to 
me  that  a  vast  majority  of  your  graduates  would  have 
a  much  better  education  in  their  maturer  years  if  they 
had  not  been  affected  by  the  graduation  process.  Thus 
you  see  that  the  assignment  of  lessons,  examinations, 
graduations  and  diplomas  all  tend  to  blight  self- 
inquiry,  the  only  highway  by  which  one  can  reach  the 
highest  and  noblest  attainments. 

"7.  Your  recitation  and  the  showing  process,  which, 
as  a  rule,  you  recommend  so  highly,  instill  into  the 
mind  of  the  pupil  the  idea  and  habit  that  they  can  do 
nothing  without  the  assistance  of  parent  and  teacher. 
Thus  the  child  is  gradually  taught  to  make  no  personal 
effort  without  the  telling  and  showing  processes,  and 
the  consequence  is,  that  it  kills  nearly  all  originality 
and  self-reliance  in  the  child. 

"8.  Your  compulsory  attendance,  whether  enforced 
by  parents  or  state,  tends  to  make  fibbers  and  schemers 
out  of  many  pupils  who  desire  to  be  excused  before 
school  lets  out,  or  who  desire  to  be  excused  by  parent 
or  state.  It  is  natural  that  after  a  pupil's  mental  fac- 
ulties are  exhausted  for  the  time  being,  it  can  not  con- 
tinue to  pursue  its  studies  without  great  bodily  and 
mental  injury.  Under  these  conditions  the  child's 
healthful  instinct  generally  prompts  it  to  cease  study- 
ing, after  which  it  begins  its  'mischievous  pranks'  as 
you  call  them.  It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  all  minds 
are  not  endowed  with  like  power  of  endurance,  yet 
your  public  schools,  as  a  rule,  make  no  provision  for 
such  difference  of  mental  endurance.  You  compel  all 
to  attend  school  for  six  hours  daily.     Thus  your  com- 


3/2  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

pulsion  tends  to  make  fibbers  and  miscreants;  it  injures 
the  child's  health,  prevents  the  spontaneous  develop- 
ment of  its  faculties  and  sets  it  a,<^ainst  learning. 

"9.  Probably  about  one-fourth  of  the  pupils  attend- 
ing school  are  what  you  call  'bad  boys'  and  'bad  girls.' 
They  have  little  or  no  desire  to  attend  school  and  to 
study  the  assigned  lessons  and  branches  at  such  a  time 
and  for  such  a  length  of  time.  They  greatly  annoy 
those  who  do  have  a  taste  for  study,  and  their  compul- 
sory attendance  constantly  causes  an  increased  repug- 
nance for  the  school-room  and  for  all  the  work  con- 
nected with  it.  They  become  thoroughly  disgusted 
with  all  learning.  Thus,  instead  of  creating  a  pleasur- 
able desire  for  learning,  you  do  not  even  let  it  sprout 
by  giving  them  a  little  freedom  and  opportunity. 

"10.  We  have  seen  that  not  all  pupils  have  a  like 
mental  endurance.  Some  are  mentally  exhausted  be- 
fore others.  The  mental  endurance  of  the  same  pupil 
also  differs  from  day  to  day.  Again,  some  delight  in 
study  one  day  and  dislike  it  the  next.  But  your  'school 
week'  consists  of  five  cla}'s  and  your  'school  day'  con- 
sists of  six  hours,  no  matter  what  the  other  conditions 
are.  The  pupil  who  is  through  studying  must  remain 
just  as  long  as  the  one  who  is  not.  Thus  you  are  large- 
ly obliged  to  enforce  attendance  and  order  on  those 
pupils  who  are  not  in  a  mood  for  mental  work  at  that 
time.  This  condition  of  things  necessarily  causes  a 
constant  friction  between  teachers  and  pupils.  It 
makes  a  cruel,  crabbed,  despotic  teacher  and  a  ruth- 
less, stubborn  pupil.  I  believe  this  to  be  one  of  the 
reasons  why  so  many  of  your  professional  teachers  are 
so  overbearing,  cruel  and  despotic,  caring  so  little  for 
the  rights,  freedom  and  welfare  of   others.     My  pro- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  373 

fession  has  called  me  to  many  of  your  teachers'  asso- 
ciations, and  I  am  sorry  to  say  that,  as  a  rule,  I  have 
invariably  found  these  assemblies  composed  of  very 
narrow-minded  men  and  women.  As  a  rule,  they  have 
very  little  idea  of  freedom,  equity,  and  the  psychologi- 
cal principles  upon  which  all  successful  instruction 
must  be  based.  They  generally  hoot  at  any  truth  that 
does  not  lie  within  their  narrow  path  of  a  little  imprac- 
tical book-learning.  But  this  is  all  natural  and  inevit- 
able when  we  understand  the  circumstances  which 
produce  your  public  school-teacher.  To  begin  with, 
the  teacher  must  generally  get  his  position  by  more  or 
less  scheming,  and  when  he  has  secured  it  he  becomes 
a  kind  of  lord  and  master  over  his  pupils.  If  he  is  a 
principal  or  superintendent,  his  assistant  teachers  are 
generally  more  or  less  at  his  mercy.  The  assistants 
know  this  and  often  flatter  him  in  order  to  stand  well 
in  his  estimation.  The  less  learned  patrons  also  look 
upon  him  as  a  distinguished  personage.  This  subordi- 
nation of  his  companions,  the  absolute  authority  he 
exercises  over  his  pupils, his  real  or  supposed  learning, 
and  other  advantages  make  a  kind  of  baron  out  of 
him,  and  generally  cover  him  more  or  less  with  'cheap' 
vanity  and  ostentation.  It  also  makes  him  very  in- 
tolerant, so  that  an  assembly  of  principals  and  super- 
intendents who  pretend  to  lead  the  intellectual  world, 
nearly  always  lack  breadth  and  depth  of  learning. 
They  often  know  more  Greek  and  Latin  than  they 
know  of  human  nature  and  the  phenomena  of  the  uni- 
verse. Their  narrow  views  seldom  reach  the  depth  of 
man's  psychical  nature.  They  are  nearly  always  deal- 
ing with  immediate  superficial  results  and  scarcely 
ever   think  about   the    real,  the  fundamental,  and  the 


374  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

remote.  They  try  to  get  rid  of  an  effect  without 
touching  the  cause. 

"  II.  As  the  ability  and  aptitude  of  every  pupil 
differs  somewhat  from  that  of  every  other  pupil,  your 
classification  must  necessarily  always  be  more  or  less 
imperfect.  A  pupil  that  fits  best  in  one  class  and 
grade  this  week  may  fit  best  in  another  class  next  week. 

"  12.-  It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  a  person,  whether 
young  or  old,  loses  interest  in  a  book  by  reading  or 
studying  it  over  and  over,  "  The  interest  is  keenest 
when  we  do  not  know  what  is  to  follow.  Yet  in  your 
public  schools,  you  largely  compel  your  pupils  to  go 
through  the  same  books  again  and  again  until  they  are 
completely  disgusted  with  them.  This  is  more  ma- 
chinelike than  humanlike,  and  tends  to  kill  interest  in 
original  and  individual  inquiry. 

"  13.  The  management  of  your  public  schools  is 
largely  under  the  control  of  politicians;  and  often  un- 
scrupulous, incompetent  politicians,  who  know  very 
little  about  the  psychical  needs  of  man,  and  who,  not 
fnfrequently,  care  less  for  the  interest  and  progress  of 
the  school  than  they  do  for  their  re-election.  We  also 
all  know  that  man,  in  his  rude  beginnings  and  for  ages 
after,  is  always  blinded  by  zeal,  enthusiasm  and  patri- 
otism. They  have  strewn  the  road  of  progress  with 
human  skeletons;  they  have  dyed  the  streams  red  with 
blood;  they  have  erected  countless  temples  of  fanati- 
cisms; they  have  invented  countless  instruments  of  tort- 
ure; they  have  filled  the  land  with  slaves  and  paupers; 
they  have  soiled  the  robe  of  Liberty  with  multitudi- 
nous spots  of  intolerance  ;  they  have  filled  the  mind 
with  cruelty,  bigotry  and  superstition,  and  they  have 
fostered  monopoly  and  stifled  equity. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  375 

"  14.  The  financial  support  tf  your  public  school 
rests  on  compulsory  taxation,  and  is,  therefore,  ulti- 
mately backed  by  an  army.  It  positively  prohibits 
direct  competition  by  taxing  all  private  schools  out  of 
existence.  For  example:  A  Catholic  or  a  Protestant, 
who  desires  to  send  his  child  to  a  private  or  parochial 
school,  must  pay  double  taxes.  He  is  first  forced  by 
the  state  to  pay  taxes  in  proportion  to  the  'value  of 
his  property '  for  the  financial  support  of  the  public 
school,  and  then,  if  he  sends  his  children  to  a  private 
or  parochial  school,  he  must  pay  tuition  in  proportion 
to  the  number  of  children  sent.  Thus  you  see  that 
your  state,  on  many  points,  is  as  intolerant  now  as  it 
was  in  the  dark  ages.  It  permits  no  private  compe- 
tition ;  it  recognizes  no  individuality  on  these  impor- 
tant points. 

"15.  We  have  seen  that  the  state  allows  no  private 
competition  in  school  affairs.  It  employs  its  own 
teachers.  All  of  us  also  know,  if  we  have  ever  given  it 
a  thought,  that  the  church  and  state  are  quite  separated 
in  tJicory,  but  not  so  much  so  in  practice.  The  teachers  of 
your  public  school,  who  desire  to  retain  their  position, 
must  sharply  and  closely  follow  the  course  of  study 
adopted  directly  by  the  state,  and  indirectly  by  the 
church;  and  any  teacher  who  deviates  from  that  course, 
or  who  attempts  to  improve  on  it,  from  knowledge 
gained  by  his  longer  personal  experience,  is  very 
liable  to  lose  his  position  and  be  branded  a  heretic  and 
a  rebel.  Thus  you  see  that  thousands  of  your  best  and 
most  thoughtful  public  school  teachers  are  prevented 
from  teaching  their  best  thoughts  and  their  noblest 
sentiments.     Under  the  head  'How  the  transition  from 


376  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

the  old  to  the  new  ortler  of  things  was  accomplished,' 
I  shall  tell  you  more  about  this  last  great  evil. 

"I  have  here  enumerated  fifteen  vital  defects,  all  of 
which  are  fundamentally  opposed  to  the  harmonious 
production  of  a  just,  kind,  self-reliant,  complete  indi- 
vidual. Every  one  of  these  fifteen  defects  tend  to 
make  mere  grown-up  babies  of  your  young  ladies  and 
gentlemen.  But  let  us  not  flatter  ourselves  that  these 
fifteen  defects  are  all,  for  there  are  countless  others  even 
too  numerous  to  suggest,  a  few  of  which  will  suf^ce 
to  illustrate  my  meaning.  You  have  too  much  book- 
learning  as  compared  with  your  practical  teaching. 
Your  school-work  is  nearly  always  too  dif^cult  for 
young  children  of  their  mental  capacity;  it  stunts  the 
youthful  mind.  Your  crowded  school-rooms,  in  which 
)-our  so-called  'bad  boys'  and  'bad  girls'  are  often  play- 
ing tricks,  and  in  which  some  are  talking  and  reciting, 
are  no  fit  places  for  study.  Under  these  conditions, 
the  mind  can  not  concentrate  its  powers  on  the  subject 
to  be  studied,  etc.,  etc.  But  let  us  now  return  to  the 
general  criticisms  to  this  broader  and  deeper  field  of 
instruction." 

"But  let  me  ask  you.  Mr.  Midith,  how  would  you 
get  rid  of  these  defects?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"The  only  way  you  can  get  rid  of  them  is  to  out- 
grow them.  First,  the  masses  of  your  people  have  to 
learn  that  there  are  defects,  and  then  they  have  to  learn 
to  appreciate  triitli  more  2ind  partyis?n  less.  A  system  of 
education  is  a  growth  and  not  a  manufacture.  I  have 
given  our  system  of  education,  which  does  not  contain 
any  of  these  defects  and  faults,  and  that  is  all  the  guid- 
ance I  can  offer  on  this  point  as  well  as  on  all  others. 
But  I  am  not  yet  through  criticising.     I  have    not  yet 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  377 

entered  the  more  general  fields  which  I  shall  now  en- 
deavor to  do. 

"If  the  foregoing  objections  concerning  your  public 
schools  are  true,  and  I  believe  that  all  well-informed,  un- 
biased persons  will  admit  that,  then  your  public  schools 
are  largely  depriving  your  children  of  their  individu- 
ality and  self-reliance;  the  same  as  your  military  dis- 
cipline largely  deprived  your  men  of  their  individuality 
and  self-exertion  during  the  military  age.  Your  chil- 
dren, by  being  thus  deprived  of  their  individuality,  in- 
dependence and  self-reliance,  grow  machine-like,  and 
work  only  when  they  are  set  in  motion  by  some  parent, 
teacher,  master,  politician,  clergyman,  etc.  Again, 
you  largely  instruct  your  children,  either  tacitly  or 
avowedly,  that  manual  labor  is  dishonorable.  Many 
of  your  parents  send  their  children  to  college  until 
they  are  twenty  or  more  years  of  age  to  get  a  little 
booklearning  through  a  narrow,  prescribed  channel, 
under  the  influence  of  paternalism,  which  causes  your 
young  ladies  and  gentlemen  to  be  little  more  than 
grown-up  babies,  without  any  practical  experience  and 
originality  to  grapple  with  the  phenomena  of  life.  As 
a  rule,  you  stifle  all  independence  and  self-reliance  in 
your  child  by  paternalism  and  monopoly. 

"  By  such  a  course  of  instruction  the  child  learns 
little  or  no  manual  labor  during  the  whole  of  its  'so- 
called  school  age.'  Physically  it  lives  an  idle  life,  and 
mentally  it  learns  often  much  more  superstition  than 
facts.  Not  infrequently  one  can  see  your  mothers  do 
all,  or  nearly  all,  the  domestic  drudgery,  and  let  their 
grown-up  daughters  live  an  idle  life  right  in  the  same 
house.  But  how  can  the  daughter  do  her  fair  share  of 
the  work  as  long  as  she  is  taught  to  look  upon  manual 


37^  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

labor  with  contempt.  In  this  manner  you  make  slaves 
of  your  children,  because  labor,  if  not  learned  while 
young,  will  forever  be  unpleasant  and  disagreeable. 
This  compels  your  children,  then,  to  be  either  social 
parasites  or  industrial  slaves  to  labor.  You  provide  no 
incentives  for  children  to  labor.  A  portion  of  your 
children  arc  employed  almost  exclusively  at  physical 
labor,  the  other  portion  at  mental. 

"  Your  language  is  generally  poor  because  your 
social  conditions  are  such  that  good  language  is  almost 
impossible.  Your  handwriting,  as  a  rule,  is  very  stiff, 
ard  often  scarcely  legible.  Your  ill-adjusted  commer- 
cial system  makes  your  mathematics  so  complicated 
that  few  even  master  the  rudiments  of  your  arithmetic. 

"  Your  physiological  lessons  are,  indeed,  very  defi- 
cient. Your  selection  of  food  is  very  crude;  the  quan- 
tity often  scanty,  and  the  manner  of  eating  nearly 
always  unnatural.  Your  bathing  conveniences  are  very 
poor,  the  time  all  taken  up  with  labor  and  the  vitality 
expended  in  physical  and  mental  efforts;  so  that  few 
of  the  earth's  inhabitants  can  find  pleasure  in  personal 
cleanliness.  One  meets  everywhere  thousands  of  per- 
sons with  black  and  uncleaned  teeth,  untrimmed  finger 
and  toe  nails,  uncombed  hair,  offensive-smelling  feet 
and  a  general  odor  of  perspiration  mingled  with 
tobacco  scent,  etc.  But  all  of  these  are  unavoid- 
able concomitants  of  your  social,  industrial  and  sexual 
conditions.  Personal  cleanliness  pre-supposes  wealth, 
convenience  and  leisure.  As  long  as  your  poverty  and 
toil  last,  personal  cleanliness  need  not  be  looked  for. 
You  must  remove  the  causes  before  you  can  expect 
favorable  results.  A  servant,  whether  man  or  woman, 
who  is  compelled  to  toil  for  ten  or  fourteen  hours  a 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  3/9 

day  for  almost  nothing,  and  then  is  often  not  allowed 
to  enter  the  parlor  or  sit  at  table,  cares  little  for  per- 
sonal cleanliness  and  personal  charms. 

"Your  style  of  dress  is  probably  one  of  your  most 
pernicious  habits.  Just  think  of  your  women's  hair  all 
twist'ed  and  rolled  so  tightly  that  it  causes  headache. 
Think  what  labor  it  requires,  and  what  filth  it  collects. 
Compare  your  lady's  uncomfortable  hat  with  our 
lady's  plain  felt  hat.  Think  of  your  lady's  high  or 
low  collar;  the  former  almost  prevents  her  from  turn- 
ing her  head,  the  latter  subjects  her  to  colds  and  dis- 
eases. Think  of  her  dress,  petticoats  and  skirts,  which 
flop  around  her  limbs  impeding  her  walk;  how  they 
prevent  her  from  passing  over  a  muddy  road  or  cross- 
ing; how  they  sweep  the  sidewalks  and  roads  during  a 
dry,  dusty  period.  Think  what  an  immense  amount  of 
labor  it  requires  to  keep  garments  of  such  a  ridiculous, 
inconvenient  costume  clean,  and  then  they  are  nearly 
always  more  or  less  dusty  and  soiled.  Compare  them 
with  our  lady's  jacket  and  neatly  made  pantaloons. 
There  is  no  impediment  in  walking;  no  skirts  to  sweep 
the  dust  and  mud;  no  dress  to  hold  up  when  passing 
over  a  crossing;  no  sails  to  impede  her  progress  when 
she  is  walking  against  the  wind.  Our  ladies,  as  well 
as  gentlemen,  can  run,  walk,  cross,  ride  a  bicycle,  get 
through  the  mud,  or  climb  a  fence  and  tree. 

"Again,  think  of  your  woman's  tight  corsets  with 
which  she  fences  herself  in  so  tightly  that  she  can 
scarcely  breathe.  Her  thorax  compressed;  her  lungs 
so  crowded  that  she  soon  becomes  exhausted,  when 
exercising,  from  deficient  respiration.  Consider  the 
exposure  of  her  lower  limbs,  [)rotected  by  scarcely 
anything   but    a    few    fluttering   skirts.     Consider  her 


380  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

tight  high-hccled  shoes  with  her  feet  covered  with  corns, 
warts  and  bunions;  and  then  think  what  a  helpless, 
dependent  creature  such  a  costume  makes  of  your 
woman;  how  it  contorts  her  natural  form,  and  how  it 
impairs  her  health  and  physiological  function. 

"Now  think  of  your  gentleman's  attire.  Of  his  un- 
comfortable plug  hat  into  which  he  forces  his  head;  of 
his  high  stiff  collar;  his  inflexible  cuffs  and  shirt-front; 
his  high-heeled  boots  with  little  room  for  his  toes;  his 
roasting  himself  in  a  coat  and  vest  on  a  hot  day,  be- 
cause he  induces  his  female  companions  to  think  that 
it  is  x\o\.  fasJiionable  to  look  on  shirt-sleeves. 

"Do  not  forget  to  think  of  your  little  helpless  chil- 
dren, wearing  short  dresses  and  having  their  lower 
limbs  exposed  to  the  vicissitudes  of  the  weather.  How 
they  are  often  so  dressed  that  they  can  scarcely  move 
about  in  their  work  and  play.  How  their  parents 
frequently  forbid  them  to  play  in  their  'best  clothes,' 
just  as  if  the  clothes  are  more  valuable  than  the  chil- 
dren's health;  and  last  of  all,  think  of  the  amount  of 
paint  and  powder  you  must  use  on  the  faces  of  both 
men  and  women  to  hide  the  sickly  color  caused  by 
the  numerous  violations  of  the  laws  of  life  and  health 
in  your  style  of  dressing  and  in  your  other  modes  of 
living.  Thousands  of  comparatively  poor  victims  are, 
on  certain  occasions,  endeavoring  to  sprout  a  puny 
artificial  rose  on  their  fallen  cheeks  and  faltering  lips, 
but  such  roses  always  wilt  before  they  are  fairly  un- 
folded.    They  lack  internal  vigor. 

"But  allow  me  to  say  again  that  )'ou  must  not  think 
that  I  ridicule  your  conduct,  nor  that  we  like  beauty 
and  grace  less  than  you  do.  We  believe,  ho\\ever,  that 
beauty  and  grace  can  not  be  obtained  to  any  consider- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  38 1 

able  extent  by  face  powder,  paint  and  injurious  fashion- 
able dressing  By  a  longer  lapse  of  time,  our  artistic 
taste  has  slowly  adjusted  itself  more  and  more  in  har- 
mony with  natural,  healthful  appearances.  We,  by 
living  as  nearly  as  we  can  in  tune  with  the  phenomena 
of  life  and  health,  solicit  nature  to  develop  a  strong, 
healthy  body,  a  bold,  vigorous  mind,  a  graceful  form, 
pleasant,  cheerful  features,  round,  roseate  cheeks,  pur- 
ple lips,  bright  eyes  and  an  elastic  step. 

"The  robe  of  health,  cheerfulness,  and  bodily  and 
mental  attainments  is  a  more  dressy  garment  than  any 
other  we  can  wear,  and  we,  therefore,  make  every  act 
of  our  life  count  to  obtain  this  envied  garment  in  the 
most  natural  and  ornamental  style.  For  ages  we 
believed  and  acted  like  you  are  now  doing,  tried  to 
obtain  it  by  deceiving  nature  with  paint  and  injurious 
fashion,  but,  by  long  and  patient  observation  and 
experiment,  and  by  millions  of  wrecked  constitutions 
and  premature  deaths,  we,  at  last,  learned  that  our 
expectation  of  deceiving  nature  was  completely 
futile.  This  beautiful,  costly  robe  of  nature  which 
adorns  the  body  from  within  outward  can  be  purchased 
only  at  the  store  of  Truth,  for  every  violation  of  truth 
taints  its  beauty." 

"Mr.  Midith,  you  have  not  yet  told  us  anything 
about  your  particular  sports  and  amusements,"  said 
Viola.  "You  have  so  much  time  to  spend  in  that  way 
that  you  ought  to  be  almost  perfect  in  all  sports  and 
amusements." 

"Well,"  said  Mr.  Midith,  "if  you  desire  me  to  tell 
you  something  about  them,  I  shall  give  you  a  brief 
review  of  ji?///t' of  them;  I  S3.y  sonic  because  they  are  so 


382  PRACTICAL    CO-OIERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

numerous  and  complex  and  xarlcd  that  I  can  only  touch 
upon  a  few  of  the  snnple^t  ones. 

"But  before  we  proceed  let  us  take  into  considera- 
tion that  the  nature  and  kind  of  man's  sports  and 
amusements  vary  in  different  persons;  also  with  age, 
sex,  state  of  health  and  mental  and  physical  culture 
and  development. 

"For  example,  you  notice  here  on  earth  that  one 
person  delights  in  playing  cards;  another  in  playing 
ball;  another  in  singing;  another  in  traveling;  another 
in  fishing,  etc. 

"The  little  child  finds  amusement  in  the  tin  rattle; 
the  boy  in  marbles  and  ball;  the  little  girl  in  the  doll; 
the  robust  person  in  vigorous  exercise;  the  invalid  in 
rest  and  quiet;  the  savage  in  scalping  and  other  torture; 
the  cultured  in  promoting  his  own  happiness  by  pro- 
moting the  happiness  of  others. 

"The  moans  and  cries  of  the  dying  victim  are  highly 
amusing  to  the  ear  of  the  savage  who  burns  him  at  the 
stake;  but  to  the  ear  of  the  more  civilized  person,  they 
are  so  shocking  that  he  would  faint  at  the  sound  of 
them.  Only  a  comparatively  few  years  ago  your  most 
refined  men  and  women  of  the  Roman  empire  looked 
with  delight  and  amusement  on  the  gladiatorial  com- 
bats which  reddened  the  arena  of  the  spacious  amphi- 
theatre with  human  blood.  To-day,  even  io  your  most 
refined  men  and  women,  the  same  sights  and  sports 
would  be  perfectly  horrifying.  They  could  not  be 
hired  to  witness  them.  I  notice  that  your  civilized 
American  boys  still  delight  in  dog-fights  and  flinging 
stones  at  your  innocent  little  song-birds  as  they  are 
singing  their  sweet  songs.  The  Marsian  boy  would 
think  that  horrible.     By  long,  kind  treatment  our  song 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 


jo^) 


birds  have  all  become  even  much  tamer  than  your 
domestic  animals;  they  have  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
human  hand.  I  notice  still  further  that  many  of  your 
so-called  civilized  Americans  still  delight  in  prize- 
fights, bull-fights,  sportive  hunting  and  fishing,  horse- 
racing,  etc.  All  of  these  sights  would  be  almost  as 
shocking  to  a  Marsite  as  a  gladiatorial  combat  would 
be  to  a  highly-refined  and  keenly-considerate  lady  of 
your  present  time. 

"By  the  foregoing,  then,  we  see  that  each  stage  of 
intellectual  culture  has  its  peculiar  sports  and  amuse- 
ments. What  is  delightful  amusement  to  one  is  dread- 
ful horror  to  another.  Hence  as  Mars  is  much  in 
advance  of  the  earth,  our  sports  and  amusements  must 
be  much  in  advance  of  yours,  must  be  in  harmony  with 
our  feelings  and  institutions. 

"  There  is  one  other  point  of  which  I  must  remind 
you  before  you  can  clearly  understand  me  on  the  sub- 
ject of  sports  and  amusements;  and  that  point  is,  that 
nearly  all  jj/(3//r  Z^//;'^;' is  very  disagreeable  and  toilsome, 
while  our  labor  itself,  as  you  have  seen,  is  little  less  than 
sport  and  amusement.  From  this  you  see  that  our 
whole  life,  as  measured  by  our  standard  of  sportive 
taste,  is  little  else  than  a  series  of  continuous  sports 
and  games  of  amusements.  Let  us  now  look  at  a  few 
of  them,  beginning  with  the  private  apartments  of  the 
big-house. 

"In  the  private  apartment,  when  alone,  we  read, 
write,  study,  paint,  draw,  study  music,  listen  to  phono- 
graphic books,  and  do  countless  other  things  for  amuse- 
ment, of  which  I  can  not  tell  you  now,  for  you  are  not 
familiar  with  them ,  because  they  do  not  yet  exist  on  earth. 
After  all  this,  we  often  desire  the  company  of  a  little 


384  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

child  only.  If  so,  we  invite  one.  Children  are  nearly 
always  fond  of  such  invitations,  because  when  an 
adult  desires  the  company  of  a  child  in  that  way,  he 
will  always  amuse  and  delightfully  instruct  it.  When 
we  desire  the  private  company  of  adults,  either  man  or 
woman,  we  invite  some  agreeable  companion  or  com- 
panions who  are  willing  to  become  our  private  guests. 
In  company  with  these  we  study,  sing,  paint,  converse, 
laugh  and  joke,  tell  our  experience,  play  all  kinds  of 
appropriate  games,  and  do  all  such  other  things  as  we 
find  mutually  agreeable  and  pleasant. 

"For  amusement,  in  the  public  parts  of  the  big- 
house,  we  visit  and  amuse  ourselves  in  the  different 
parlors,  eat  in  the  restaurant,  sport  with  the  children 
and  babies  in  the  nurseries,  attend  grand  operas,  lect- 
ures, scientific  demonstrations,  promenade  and  cycle  in 
the  large  exercise  hall,  listen  to  charming  concerts, 
and  play  countless  games,  for  which  both  ladies  and 
gentlemen  are  attired  in  appropriate,  convenient  cos- 
tumes. 

"Our  outdoor  sports  and  amusements  are  so  numer- 
ous, varied  and  complex  that  I  can  tell  you  only  a  few 
of  them,  for,  in  a  world  like  that  of  the  earth,  where 
the  vast  masses  are  compelled  to  expend  nearly  all  their 
vitality  for  the  mere  acquisition  of  their  scanty  material 
subsistence,  refined  and  complex  sports  and  amuse- 
ments can  not  well  be  understood,  nor  can  they  have  a 
conspicuous  place  in  man's  daily  activity  under  such 
conditions. 

"Our  simplest  outdoor  exercise  for  amusement  is 
walking,  either  alone  or  in  company  with  a  companion 
or  companions.  On  a  fine  day  or  evening  our  granite 
walks  are  usually  dotted  wuth  men,  women  and  chii- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  385 

dren  walking  for  amusement.  We  take  these  outdoor 
promenades  most  any  place.  In  the  garden  we  stroll 
to  admire  the  endless  variety  of  flowers,  the  luxuriant 
vegetation,  which  is  everywhere  cultivated  with  the 
greatest  success  and  perfection.  From  the  garden, 
perhaps,  we  rove  to  the  orchard,  among  the  laden  fruit 
trees,  bearing  the  delicious  fruit  on  their  boughs  and 
having  the  green,  closely-cut  lawn  beneath.  Some- 
times our  sportive  walks  extend  from  community  to 
communtiy,  admiring  all  the  rich,  varied  and  diversi- 
fied things  we  meet,  for  the  Marsites  have  long  discov- 
ered that  variety  of  color,  form,  etc.,  is  pleasing  to  the 
sight.  In  every  community  we  find  a  large  variety  of 
new  forms  and  arrangements  in  the  park,  in  the  con- 
servatory (or  green-house),  in  the  gardens,  in  the 
orchards,  on  the  walks,  and,  in  fact,  everywhere.  In 
the  winter  we  take  our  leisure  walks  in  the  grand  con- 
servatory, which  extends  from  one  community  to  the 
other,  and  in  which  the  flowers,  plants,  fruit  and  trees 
are  growing  as  luxuriantly  as  they  do  in  a  tropical  cli- 
mate, even  when  the  snow  is  a  foot  deep  on  the  outside. 
Every  step,  as  we  go  forward  from  community  to  com- 
munity, presents  new  scenes  in  colors  and  forms.  Thus 
a  number  of  companions  often  go  from  community  to 
community,  stopping  for  rest  or  for  night  whenever 
they  get  tired.  You  see,  we  can  stop  as  cheap  at  any 
'big-house'  as  we  can  at  our  own.  During  these  walk- 
ing expeditions  our  baggage  always  follows  us  on  the 
motor  cars. 

"From  what  I  have  just  said  you  must  not  infer  that 
we  always  or  even  generally  find  the  greatest  amuse- 
ment in  walking  instead  of  riding.  Our  granite  boule- 
vards   are    nearly  always  lined  with  vehicles,  bicycles 

25 


386  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

electric  carriages,  etc.;  some  of  these  carriages  are  so 
delicate  that  they  carry  only  one  person,  while  others 
carry  from  two  to  forty  persons.  On  these  various 
vehicles,  excursion  parties  travel  for  long  distances. 
If  we  want  to  go  faster  we  go  on  the  motor;  if  still 
faster,  we  take  our  fast  trains,  which  have  on  board  all 
the  comforts  and  conveniences  that  the  mechanical 
genius  of  man  has  been  able  to  apply  and  utilize. 

"I  must  not  here  forget  to  tell  you  about  the  sports 
and  amusements  we  have  in  our  splendid  parks.  Here 
men,  women  and  children  sport  and  amuse  themselves 
in  countless  ways.  Some  are  sitting  in  the  shade  on 
our  commodious  park  settees;  some  are  admiring 
flowers  and  plants;  some  promenade;  some  study; 
some  play.  Numerous  grounds  for  the  playing  of 
different  games  are  permanently  laid  out  in  these 
parks,  and  skillful  players,  men  and  women,  dressed  in 
fine  costumes  for  the  occasion,  are  engaged  in  playing 
these  games.  Besides  these  grounds  for  particular 
games,  a  countless  variety  of  machinery  and  apparatus 
for  sportive  plays  and  amusements  are  always  found 
on  our  green,  odoriferous  parks;  and  during  our  pleas- 
ure excursions  as  we  go  from  community  to  commun- 
ity, we  continually  meet  a  still  greater  variety  of  play- 
grounds, apparatus  and  amusements. 

"Nearly  every  person  also  annually  visits  a  number 
of  Fanos  and  the  indescribable  Modano,  the  capitol  of 
Mars.  In  these  magnificent  structures,  of  which  I  have 
told  you,  is  a  never-ceasing  exhibit  of  all  the  Marsian 
artistic,  scientific  and  industrial  labors,  both  ancient 
and  modern.  It  is  a  perpetual  'World's  Fair,'  always 
ready  to  accommodate  every  visitor  in  the  grandest 
style.     It  is  not  like  your  'World's  Fair,'  the  buildings 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  387 

of  which  are  temporarily  constructed,  and  which  are 
in  session  only  a  few  months,  and  during  that  time  the 
crowd  is  so  large,  the  resting  conveniences  so  few  and 
poor  that  a  spectator  soon  becomes  too  fatigued  to 
enjoy  the  sights;  but  we  must  not  forget  here  that  the 
Marsian  conveniences  at  the  Modano  were  once  no 
better,  and,  probably,  your  posterity  will  even  do 
better  than  we  are  doing  at  present  on  Mars. 

"Then  we  have  our  natural  scenery  to  visit.  Our 
extensive  natural  parks  in  the  mountainous  region  of 
Mars.  These  natural  parks  are  alive  with  docile  birds 
and  beasts;  they  contain  mountains  and  valleys, 
streams  and  fountains,  rugged  cliffs  and  beautiful  clear 
lakes,  volcanoes  and  snow-capped  mountain  peaks; 
to  the  tops  of  some  of  these  mountain  peaks  we 
have  built  motor-lines,  so  that,  in  a  few  minutes, 
we  can  ascend  to  the  world  of  perpetual  snow  and  ice." 

"But  do  you  not  sometimes  during  your  visits  to  the 
mountain  peaks  get  snowbound?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"Oh,  no,"  said  Mr.  Midith  with  a  smile.  "We  never 
get  snowbound.  All  our  granite  walks,  boulevards, 
motor-lines  and  railroads  never  have  any  snow  and  ice 
on  them.  They  are  all  so  made  that  the  granite  floor 
can  be  heated  by  electric  currents,  so  that  the  snow 
and  ice,  which,  during  a  snowstorm,  falls  and  drifts 
onto  it,  is  immediately  melted.  This  is  the  way  we 
keep  our  walks  and  roads  open  on  Mars.  It  is  a  con- 
venient and  effective  way  of  shoveling  snow. 

"From  the  foregoing  hints  and  suggestions,  you 
can  readily  see  that  the  greater  portion  of  our  time  is 
taken  for  sports  and  amusements,  and  that  we  find 
them  everywhere,  from  the  private  apartment  to  the 
colossal  Modano  and  the  lofty  snow-capped  mountain." 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

HOW    THE     TRANSITION     FROM     THE     OLD    TO     THE      NEW 
ORDER    OF    THINGS    WAS    ACCOMPLISHED. 

"You  said,  Mr.  Midith,  that  at  one  time  your 
social  and  industrial  organizations  were  similar  to  our 
present  ones.  How,  then,  did  the  change  from  the 
old  to  the  new  order  of  things  take  place?  By  what 
means  was  it  accomplished,  and  what  were  the  transi- 
tional steps?"  inquired  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"Allow  me  here  to  make  one  preliminary  state- 
ment," proceeded  Mr.  Midith. 

"All  of  us  agree  that  we  are  all  in  pursuit  of  the 
greatest  happiness;  we  also  agree  that  some  acts  are 
always  attended  with  pleasure,  or  happiness,  while 
others  are  always  attended  with  pain,  or  misery.  The 
reward  of  happiness,  invariably  following  certain  acts, 
and  the  punishment  of  misery,  invariably  following 
certain  other  acts,  can  be  our  only  guide  in  ascertain- 
ing the  most  advantageous  course  of  conduct,  and  the 
only  incentive  that  leads  us  forward  on  the  road  of  prog- 
ress. Hence,  as  we  advance  in  intellectual  culture, 
our  course  of  action  will  be  more  and  more  nearly  in 
accord  with  the  fullness  of  life;  for  acts  which  tend 
toward  the  fullness  of  life  must,  as  a  whole,  produce 
greater  happiness  than  those  which  detract  from  it, 
for  under  no  other  conceivable  conditions  could  a  race 

of  sentient  beings  have  been  evolved. 

3sa 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  389 

"From  what  we  have  seen  elsewhere,  as  well  as  from 
the  foregoing  remarks,  it  follows  that  society,  on  the 
one  hand,  tends  to  widen  and  perfect  voluntary  co-op- 
eration on  the  part  of  production,  and  thereby  econo- 
mize also  in  consumption,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
tends  to  enlarge  the  field  of  individual  freedom;  for 
both  an  abundant  supply  with  which  to  satisfy  our 
wants,  and  the  largest  possible  scope  of  individual  free- 
dom tend  to  produce  the  greatest  happiness. 

"That  people,  then,  who  by  the  widest  and  most 
thorough  voluntary  co-operation  most  completely  sat- 
isfy all  their  varied  and  complex  desires  with  the  least 
amount  of  labor,  and  with  the  greatest  freedom  to  the 
individual,  is  the  highest  civilized.  A  strong  central- 
ized government  is  not  a  mark  of  a  high  state  of  civili- 
zation, as  some  of  you  at  first  sight  may  think;  if  it 
were,  Russia  would  rank  in  civilization  far  above  the 
United  States.  Armies,  navies  and  policemen  are  no 
signs  of  high  intellectual  culture;  if  you  consider 
them  such,  Russia  ranks  first  in  culture  and  civilization. 
They  are  nothing  more  or  less  than  remnants  of  bar- 
barity; they  are  the  marks  of  contemporaneous  dis- 
cord. 

"By  following  the  same  course  of  reasoning,  and  by 
bearing  in  mind  that  our  social  and  industrial  organiza- 
tions, in  which  every  sound  person  is  kind,  non-aggres- 
sive, rich  and  free,  have  no  use  and  no  place  for  civil 
judges,  man-made  laws,  kings  and  queens,  presidents, 
congresses,  legislatures,  tariff,  prisons,  lawyers,  priests, 
politicians,  schemers  and  compulsory  taxation,  you 
will  at  once  understand  that  they  are  not  signs  of  civil- 
ization and  culture,  but  arc,  on  the  contrary,  marks  of 
existing  fraud,  compulsion  and  quarrelsomeness.     Or- 


390  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

thodox  preachers,  sectarian  churches,  and  legal  and 
priestly  marriages  are  remnants  of  former  supersti- 
tions. Public  schools,  charitable  institutions,  and  re- 
formatory prisons  are  marks  of  a  crude,  defective  and 
unnatural  s}-stem  of  instruction.  Millionaires,  paupers, 
bankers,  land  value,  profit,  interest  and  rent  are  conse- 
quences of  monopolization.  They  must  all  become 
unnecessary  and  repugnant  to  the  mind,  before  a  high 
state  of  civilization  and  culture  can  be  attained. 

"As  we  slowly  learned  these  facts,  both  the  city  and 
country  disappeared.  The  people  that  lived  in  large 
cities  found  that  a  city  is  a  noisy,  smoky,  filthy  and 
unwholesome  place  to  live.  There  was,  perhaps,  but 
one  little  park  in  the  whole  city.  The  wealthier  class 
gradually  began  to  build  their  dwellings  more  and 
more  remote  from  the  center  of  city  activity.  But  the 
vast  majority  of  the  working  Marsites  at  this  period  of 
transition  were  living  in  small  tenement  houses,  paying 
high  rent  and  working  a  long,  long  toilsome  day  in  the 
factory,  store  or  mine  for  very  low  wages.  They  were 
too  rude,  thoughtless  and  poor  to  be  sensible  to  the 
wholesome  wants  of  a  city  life.  They,  like  your  city 
people  on  earth,  rarely  ever  saw  and  heard  a  bird, 
smelled  the  fragrance  of  blooming  plants,  or  saw  the 
flowers  and  green  grass  grow.  Every  opening  in  their 
poor  abode  admitted  noise,  dust,  vermin,  stench  and 
vitiated  air.  In  winter  they  were  often  too  poor  to 
heat  their  apartments  artificially;  in  summer  the  heat 
was  almost  unendurable,  and  the  ventilation  was  often 
next  to  nothing.  We  also  gradually  learned  that 
cities,  as  such,  do  not  only  tend  to  produce  crime,  but 
also  shelter  and  secrete  criminals.  They  tend  to 
concentrate  wealth  and  power,  making  a  few  million- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  39I 

«> 

aires  and  a  vast  army  of  extremely  poor.  More  than 
that,  they  foster  and  often  license  many  of  the  gravest 
crimes. 

"On  the  other  hand,  the  farmer,  living  almost  a  sol- 
itary life  and  working  early  and  late  to  produce  the 
necessaries  and  luxuries  of  life  for  himself  and  family 
and  for  the  comparatively  unproductive  city  and  town 
'boomer,'  who  must  all  live  from  the  products  of  the 
earth,  gradually  learned  by  high-priced  experience  that 
such  a  lonely,  toilsome  country  life  is  scarcely  worth 
living.  His  single-handed  work  was  so  hard,  slow, 
often  wasteful,  and  comparatively  unproductive  that  he 
had  hardly  any  leisure  left  for  cleanliness  and  mental 
culture.  In  many  cases,  his  wife  and  children  rarely 
ever  came  in  contact  with  other  members  of  the  human 
family.  The  wife  generally  was  at  the  same  time 
mother,  nurse,  cook,  washerwoman,  tailor,  housekeeper, 
dressmaker,  milliner,  milk  and  dairy  maid,  stock  and 
poultry  breeder,  gardener,  not  unfrequently  assistant 
farmer,  and  sometimes,  as  when  a  widow,  even  head 
farmer. 

"Just  in  proportion,  then,  as  the  farmer  and  towns- 
man learned  the  evils  of  a  crowded,  unhealthy  and 
unnecessary  city,  and  also  of  a  lonely  and  unnecessary 
country,  both  the  city  and  country  disappeared.  The 
burdens  caused  by  the  city  and  country,  which  were 
formerly  unfelt  by  all,  became,  under  a  higher  state  of 
intellectual  culture,  unbearable  even  by  the  dullest. 
The  most  thoughtful  men  and  women,  who  saw  the 
advantages  of  co-operation  and  the  agreeableness  of  a 
larger  family,  first  began  to  live  together  and  work 
together.  Aggressiveness  slowly  changed  into  personal 
freedom,  and  invasions  became  fewer  and  fewer;  in 


3^S  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    lNl:)IVIDUALlS"I\i^ 

other  words,  wc  gradually  learned  to  mind  our  07vn 
business.  Thus  we  did  away  with  the  solitude  of  the 
country  and  with  the  evil  effects  of  a  city.  We  are  now 
all  living  in  splendid  parks,  adorned  with  life-giving 
vegetation.  Thus  our  social  instinct  is  gratified;  the 
evil  effects  produced  by  cities  are  no  more,  and  we  are 
also  conveniently  located  to  the  land  from  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  all  wealth  must  be  produced  by  the  applica- 
tion of  labor. 

"Our  family  homes,  of  course,  were  at  first  not  so 
orderly  and  advantageously  arranged  as  they  are  at 
present  ;  but  they  were  not  so  close  together  as  to  be 
unhealthful,  and  not  so  distant  as  to  be  lonely.  The 
members  of  the  family  continued  to  increase.  From  a 
single,  cruel,  covetous,  jealous,  married  man  and  wife 
to  sometimes  more  than  a  thousand  kind,  free,  culti- 
vated, non-aggressive  persons — men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, none  of  whom  pretend  to  hold  any  compulsory 
claims  against  any  other  one. 

"You  must  not  imagine,  either,  that  the  arrange- 
ment and  growth  of  all  our  present  families  and  com- 
munities occurred  instantaneously  and  simultaneously. 
Our  present  conditions  are,  of  course,  a  social  and 
industrial  ^wze^/Z;,  and  required  time  and  intelligence 
for  their  completion  or  advancement.  To  illustrate  : 
Your  so-called  republics  did  not  all  appear  at  the  same 
time.  The  second  republic  profited  by  the  experience 
of  the  first.  The  first  republic  did  not  postpone  its 
formation  until  all  mankind  were  ripe  for  a  republic. 
As  soon  as  a  certain  collection  of  your  people  thought 
that  they  could  live  more  agreeably  and  more  happily 
under  a  republican  form  of  government  than  under  a 
monarchy,  the  monarchy  was  gradually  changed  into 


Practical  co-operative  individualism.        393 

what  you  now  call  republics.  You  have  had  some  re- 
publics for  years,  yet  not  all  your  earthly  inhabitants 
are  subjects  of  republics  at  the  present  time.  All  per- 
sons do  not  mature  for  the  same  thing  at  the  same  time. 
So  it  was  with  our  families  and  communities.  Those 
men  and  women  that  matured  for  a  higher  plane  first, 
began  to  live  together,  regardless  of  the  immature,  as 
nearly  as  possible  a  life  approaching  the  one  the  Mar- 
sites  are  now  living.  As  I  have  already  stated,  years 
ago  each  married  couple  constituted  a  family,  and  lived 
alone  in  the  same  manner  as  you  are  now  living  on  earth. 
Then  two  suitable  couples  began  to  live  together  as  one 
family.  The  two  couples  cooked  on  one  stove,  ate  from 
one  table,  and  co-operated  in  their  domestic  and  other 
labor.  Their  social  intercourse  made  the  individual 
members  continually  more  free  and  less  aggressive. 
One  stove  or  heating  apparatus  did  the  heating  for 
both  couples.  One  house,  one  table,  one  clock,  one 
cellar,  one  musical  instrument,  one  washing-machine, 
one  library,  one  parlor  carpet,  one  lamp,  one  churn,  etc., 
supplied  four  individuals  just  as  well,  and  in  many 
respects  better,  than  they  had  formerly  supplied  tivo. 

"By  this  co-operation  nearly  one-half  the  commodi- 
ties were  economized.  But  this  was  by  no  means  all 
the  advantage  gained.  The  women's  domestic  labor 
by  working  together  was  only  little  more  than  half  as 
much  to  each  individual  as  it  was  when  each  couple 
lived  in  a  house  separately.  Thus  they  largely  econo- 
mized in  labor  and  in  commodities.  A  laborer,  whether 
man  or  woman,  when  so  co-operating,  can,  on  an  average, 
work  more  advantageously  than  they  can  when  work- 
ing single-handed.  Under  a  division  of  labor,  a  person 
can  do  much  more  and  much  better  work  than  he  can 


394  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

otherwise,  but  it  requires  a  large  community  of  exten- 
sive and  thorough  co-operation  to  make  a  complete 
division  of  labor  possible.  Under  co-operation  much 
more  work  can  be  done  with  improved  machinery,  and 
much  less  machinery  is  required  to  do  it. 

"With  regard  to  the  care  of  children,  two  mothers 
in  the  same  family  can  greatly  assist  each  other.  One 
can  nurse  the  children  for  a  time,  while  the  other  is  at 
liberty  to  go  out,  or  do  some  other  work.  They  are 
then  not  bound  down  so  closely  as  if  each  were  living 
in  a  separate  home.  Of  this  division  and  economy  of 
labor  and  saving  of  commodities,  both  men  and  women 
gradually  took  advantage. 

"As  the  family  and  homes  increased  in  number  and 
size,  and  as  material  subsistence  was  more  and  more 
easily  obtained  by  co-operative  production  and  econ- 
omy, avarice,  covetousness  and  jealousy  gradually  dis- 
appeared. All  learned  by  experience  that  in  order  to 
be  really  rich  and  happy  each  individual  must  do  his 
part  from  the  promptings  of  an  inward  sentiment 
which  constitutes  character.  No  one  can,  without  im- 
pairing his  own  permanent  happiness,  invade  the  rights 
of  another.  Each  learned  to  build  his  own  happiness 
on  the  happiness  of  his  fellow-beings. 

"The  increase  of  individual  freedom  and  equality 
kept  pace  with  the  enlargement  of  the  home  and  fam- 
ily until  the  individual — man,  woman  and  child — were 
completely  free  and  equal,  in  all  the  privileges  that 
could  be  enjoyed  according  to  the  individual's  age  and 
sex.  All  former  claims  that  were  not  voluntary  and 
mutually  agreeable  were  gradually  disregarded.  Prom- 
ises were  broken  as  soon  as  they  were  found  to  be  un- 
true.    The  discovery  of  truth   became  the  great  aim. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  395 

Each  individual  became  the  sole  owner  of  his  or  her 
person. 

"Just  as  the  family  and  home  grew  in  size,  kindness, 
freedom  and  order,  so  did  the  community  grow  in  size, 
arrangement,  regularity  and  wealth.  The  new  houses 
were  built  larger,  more  healthful,  and  more  conven- 
ient as  to  location;  the  old  ones  were  enlarged  and  re- 
arranged. Railroads  or  motor-lines  with  large  depots 
and  warehouses  at  short  intervals  connected  every 
home.  Door-yards,  parks,  play-grounds,  boulevards, 
greenhouses,  gardens  and  farms  were  enlarged,  rear- 
ranged and  improved.  Land  engines,  electric  vehicles 
and  steam  engines  of  various  kinds  superseded  the 
draught  animals,  and  in  turn  they  were  supplanted  by 
electric  power. 

"As  man  grew  continually  more  vegetarian  and  less 
carnivorous,  cattle  breeding  became  less  and  less,  until 
they  were  sparingly  used  only  for  dairy  purposes. 
Poultry  was  raised  only  for  their  eggs  and  for  pets ;  sheep 
for  their  wool.  All  these  industries,  as  time  passed, 
were  conducted  on  a  larger  scale,  and  in  localities  best 
adapted  for  them.  Timber  culture  was  also  carried  to 
those  localities  best  suited  for  that  industry. 

"Mining  and  manufacturing  became  great  industries, 
and  were  carried  on  in  some  form  in  nearly  every  com- 
munity. By  the  prospecting  scheme,  the  richness  of 
the  mine  constantly  increased;  and  the  improved  min- 
ing machinery  and  tools  made  mining  not  an  unpleas- 
ant occupation.  As  the  industrial  adjustment  became 
more  complete,  much  of  the  mining  was  done  during 
those  seasons  of  the  year  when  agriculture  and  other 
labor  was  least.  The  principal  manufacturing  was 
done  on  a  large  scale  in  those  localities  where  water 


39<3  PKACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

and  wind  power  for  the  generation  of  electricity  were 
most  abundant.  Our  machinery  and  the  skill  of  our 
workmen  constantly  improved  and  developed.  By  our 
keen,  free  competition  each  community  naturally  drifted 
into  those  industries  for  which  the  communit)'  was  best 
adapted. 

"  The  interior  of  the  house  became  more  and  more 
useful,  convenient  and  comfortable.  Stoves  for  heat- 
ing and  cooking  purposes  were  superseded  by  engines 
and  natural  gas,  then  by  electricity.  Powerful  mellow 
electric  lights,  which  lighted  the  big-houses,  walks, 
lakes,  boulevards,  motor  lines  and  railroads  more  brill- 
iantly than  a  noonday  sun,  took  the  place  of  the  for- 
mer lamps.  Stairways  were  superseded  by  improved 
and  wonderfully  convenient  elevators.  The  steam  and 
electric  laundry  did  away  with  handwashing.  Every- 
thing was  improved,  and  countless  new  things  were 
constantly  invented.  With  our  present  leisure  and 
wealth  we  have  a  hundred  inventors,  where  we  formerly 
had  one,  or  where  you  have  one.  The  kitchen,  the 
dining-room,  the  barber-shop,  the  halls,  the  furniture, 
the  commercial  department,  the  nurseries,  the  restau- 
rant, the  grand  parlors,  the  store,  the  bathrooms,  the 
scientific  departments,  the  carriage-room  and  the  priv^ate 
apartments — all  kept  pace  with  the  general  advance- 
ment. Voluntary  co-operation  and  individual  freedom 
were  so  abundantly  productive  and  economized  so 
enormously  in  all  directions  that  wealth,  health  and 
happiness  reigned  everywhere. 

"Gradually,  as  the  people  acquired  this  additional 
practical  knowledge,  each  individual  became  better 
able  to  transact  his  own  business,  for  several  reasons: 

"First,  the  social  and  industrial  organization  grew 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  397 

more  and  more  natural,  and,  therefore,  more  simple. 
Secondly,  an  intelligent  person  can  keep  himself  out 
of  trouble  better  than  an  ignorant  and  aggressive  one. 
And  thirdly,  an  enlightened  person  is  capable  of 
transacting  more  complex  business  than  an  unenlight- 
ened one. 

"With  the  rise  of  a  higher  intelligence,  unproduc- 
tive and  destructive  labor  gradually  disappeared,  until 
none  was  left.  Just  in  proportion  as  our  Marsian  an- 
cestors allowed  one  another  more  and  more  individual 
freedom,  they  became  also  more  peaceable,  for  aggres- 
sion only  can  provoke  quarrels  and  fights.  These 
peaceful  sentiments  gradually  diminished  the  number 
of  soldiers,  policemen,  peace  officers,  civil  judges, 
lawyers,  politicians,  legislators,  etc.,  and  also  their 
tools  and  machinery — guns,  clubs,  prisons,  scaffolds, 
courts,  law  libraries,  legislative  halls,  fortifications,  na- 
vies, etc.  All  of  this  shortened  the  days  of  manual 
labor. 

"In  the  commercial  and  mercantile  business  all 
needless  and  destructive  labor  was  done  away  with. 
The  army  of  profit  takers  contemporaneously  disap- 
peared with  the  cities  and  towns.  The  banker's  cus- 
tomers left  him  just  to  the  extent  as  a  medium  of  ex- 
change, based  on  productive  labor  or  the  negotiable 
wealth  of  the  community  was  introduced  and  recognized. 
Money  was  secured  by  the  actual  negotiable  wealth  on 
hand,  and  there  was  always  as  much  and  no  more  in 
circulation  as  there  was  actual  negotiable  wealth. 
Interest,  which  is  the  result  of  money  monopoly,  be- 
came a  thing  of  the  past.  Money  was  made  more  and 
more  of  cheap  and  convenient  material.  The  vast 
army    of  gold   and  silver   miners,  who  were   once  at 


39^  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

work  to  produce  the  expensive  material  for  a  medium 
of  exchange,  were  slowly  compelled  to  file  in  the  ranks 
of  productive  labor;  for  we  now  make  all  our  medium 
of  exchange  out  of  a  cheap  convenient  paper. 

"Our  middlemen  had  to  quit  business  for  want  of 
customers.  One  family  and  community  bought  directly 
of  another  community,  everything  came  directly 
from  the  producer  and  went  to  the  consumer.  Travel- 
ing salesmen,  as  such,  could  find  no  employment, 
because  every  community,  by  the  aid  of  the  annual 
invoice  and  census,  by  samples,  by  the  Fanos  and 
Modano,  and  by  a  thorough  classification  of  goods, 
bought  and  sold  whatever  and  wherever  they  could  to 
the  best  advantage.  The  vast  sum  of  wages  and  ex- 
pense formerly  paid  the  traveling  salesmen,  is  no  more 
taxed  to  the  goods  they  sold.  The  consumer  is  rid  of 
that  extra  burden.  You,  as  consumers,  are  at  present, 
perhaps,  paying  over  $200,000,000  per  annum  in  this 
manner  on  goods  purchased.  Under  our  system,  we 
require  only  a  few  stores  and  clerks  to  do  our  business 
much  better  than  you  are  doing  yours  with  your  count- 
less stores,  clerks  and  traveling  salesmen.  By  this 
advantageous  adjustment,  we  economized  a  vast  amount 
of  labor  by  co-operation  and  concentration. 

"As  man's  belief  in  the  uniformity  of  nature  became 
clearer  and  stronger,  the  sectarian  preacher's  congrega- 
tion diminished  in  number.  As  man  himself  became  so 
good  that  punishment  and  revenge  seemed  barbarous 
and  repugnant  to  him,  he  could  no  longer  believe  that 
the  formative  forces  of  the  universe  consciously  and 
deliberately  delight  in  acts  of  torture  too  vile  for 
human  contemplation.     Here  again  a  vast  number  of 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  399 

unproductive  and  destructive  laborers  had  to  become 
producers. 

"The  business  of  insurance  companies  of  all  kinds 
dwindled  down  to  nothing.  Our  social  and  industrial 
organization  afforded  all  the  protection  the  individual 
could  utilize.  Every  community,  so  to  speak,  is  an  in- 
surance company  without  any  special  agents.  We  have 
no  husbands  that  need  make  provisions  for  a  widow 
and  orphans.  Our  women  are  as  capable  of  caring  for 
themselves  as  our  men,  and  our  helpless  children  are 
all  provided  for  by  the  family,  whether  the  parents  are 
living  or  dead.  Our  'big-houses'  are  fire-proof;  and  if 
not  it  would  be  next  to  impossible  for  a  fire  to  origi- 
nate, because  we  use  neither  stoves,  lamps,  tobacco  nor 
matches  in  the  house.  The  army  of  insurance  agents 
and  ofificers  that  were  once  supported  by  the  insured 
were  slowly  forced  by  natural  conditions  into  the  field 
of  productive  labor  also. 

"The  improvement  of  commerce  kept  pace  with  the 
other  improvements.  The  person's  back,  the  ox-cart, 
the  horse-team  and  the  steam  and  electric  engines  suc- 
cessively superseded  one  another.  The  illy-graded 
and  muddy  street  and  road  were  supplanted  by  the 
boulevard,  motor-line  and  finely-constructed  railroads. 
The  bicycle,  tricycle  and  electric  vehicles  succeeded 
.the  poor,  expensive  coach  horse.  The  floating  palace 
of  the  ocean  increased  in  speed,  convenience  and  safety. 
Aerial  navigation  was  also  vastly  improved  in  many 
ways. 

"Co-operation  in  intercommunication  is  fully  as 
complete  as  it  is  in  other  industries.  The  improvement 
continued  from  the  rudest  beginning  of  mail-carrying 


400  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

until  each  private  apartment  is  furnished  with  a  post- 
office,  telephone,  phonograph,  etc." 

"Now,"  requested  Mr.  Uwins  of  Mr.  Midith,  "explain 
to  us  how  the  ownership  of  land  from  that  of  owning 
land  by  deed  to  that  of  occupancy  and  use  was  effected." 

"As  I  told  you  the  other  evening,  monopoliza- 
tion of  land,  which  is  caused  by  the  deed  system,  is 
either  directly  or  indirectly  the  source  of  nearly  all  the 
social  and  industrial  derangement;  at  least,  this  was 
formerly  the  case  on  Mars,  and  is  plainly  now  the  case 
on  earth.  But  everything  for  the  better  must  be  solved 
by  intelligence,  which  can  be  acquired  only  by  experi- 
ence, either  ancestral  or  personal.  So  as  we  learned 
during  the  lapse  of  time  that  we  could  be  happier  by 
owning  land  by  occupancy  and  use  than  by  owning  it 
by  deed,  we  gradually  took  to  the  former." 

"  But  we  would  like  to  know,"  said  Viola,  "  in  what 
manner  this  change  was  brought  about,  so  that  we  can 
make  our  intelligence  here  on  earth,  too,  count  in  that 
direction." 

"Of  course,  primitive  man  with  his  rude  and  unpol- 
ished intellect  sees  nothing  of  this  evil.  The  antag- 
onistic propensities  which  man  has  inherited  during 
the  fierce  struggle  for  existence  from  his  lower  ances- 
tors, caused  him  to  monopolize  natural  opportunity 
wherever  he  could,  because  his  intelligence  was  so  low 
and  narrow  that  to  him  the  material  subsistence  seemed 
to  count  for  all,  and  the  higher  social  and  industrial 
qualities  counted  for  little  or  nothing.  Such  an  intel- 
lect can  not  see  that  one  can  not  be  happy  as  long  as 
he  is  surrounded  by  many  who  are  ignorant  and  miser- 
able. But  with  the  unfolding  of  higher  and  nobler 
sentiments,  man,  at  last,  clearly  realized  that  no  person 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  4OI 

can  really  be  wealthy  in  any  world  as  long  as  a  portion 
of  his  fellowmen  are  pinched  with  poverty,  oppressed 
by  slavery,  burdened  by  ignorance  and  affected  with 
filth  and  rudeness.  He  learned  that  in  order  to  have 
universal  prosperity,  high  mental  attainments  and 
cleanliness  and  purity,  man  must  be  free  to  apply  his 
labor  to  land  wherever  he  finds  some  vacant." 

"But  do  you  think,"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins,  "that  the 
evil  effects  of  owning  land  by  deed  are  as  great  when 
the  population  of  a  country  or  world  is  sparse  than  if 
it  be  dense?" 

"It  may  not  be  fully  as  great  in  the  former  as  in  the 
latter  case,  but  it  is  always  one  of  the  greatest  evils  and 
the  most  effectual  hindrance  to  universal  progress.  We 
have  seen  that  in  order  to  make  industry  most  produc- 
tive, we  must  have  a  complete  division  of  labor;  and  a 
complete  division  of  labor  is  possible  only  under  an 
extensive  and  thorough  voluntary  co-operation.  But 
notice  that  the  ownership  of  land  by  deed  creates  or 
tends  to  create  extensive  landlords.  Hence  all  indi- 
viduals must  either  be  extensive  landowners,  or  some 
are  compelled  to  work  either  directly  or  indirectly  for 
the  landlord.  But  if  every  individual  is  an  extensive 
landowner,  population  must  necessarily  be  sparse;  and 
with  a  sparse  population,  extensive  and  thorough  co- 
operation is  impossible,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
laboring  of  some  landless  individuals  for  the  landlords, 
as  you  now  have  it  and  as  we  formerly  had  it,  causes 
land  monopoly,  which  is  the  cause  either  directly  or 
indirectly  of  nearly  all  your  social  and  industria  evils." 

"Yes,  I  clearly  see  the  advantages  of  owning  land 
by  occupancy  and  use." 

"But  now,"  continued  Mr.  Midith  "let  us  consider 

2S 


402  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

a  few  of  the  transitional  steps  through  which  the 
Marsites  passed  in  effecting  the  change  from  the  old 
to  the  new  method  of  owning  land.  Of  course  you 
know  very  well  that  not  every  one  abandoned  his 
vacant  land  simultaneousl}-.  All  great  ideas  are  born 
in  the  mind  of  one  individual.  He  imparts  it  to  a  few 
of  his  social  companions,  and  his  companions  to  their 
companions  and  so  on  until  it  becomes  universal.  Just 
so  did  the  vacant  land  agitation  arise  on  Mars,  and 
just  so  has  it  already  arisen  on  earth.  You  can  perhaps 
see  more  clearly  the  rise  of  an  idea  when  you  con- 
template how  your  so-called  civilized  nations,  states, 
and  individuals  gradually  abolished  chattel  slavery,  wife 
stealing,  imprisonment  for  debt,  etc.,  etc.  But  allow 
me  to  give  you  a  warning  right  here.  Do  not  be  de- 
ceived like  many  of  you  are,  by  thinking  that  war  can 
really  set  slaves  free.  All  freedom  and  toleration,  like 
all  ideas,  have  their  origin  in  the  intellectual  faculty  of 
the  individual.  They  are  born  by  mental  impressions 
received  on  consciousness  and  not  b)'  bullet-holes 
through  the  brain. 

"As  I  have  told  you,  the  social  feelings  unfolded  in 
proportion  to  the  intellectual  elevation.  With  the 
development  of  the  just  and  peaceable  sentiments,  a 
closer  and  more  extensive  association  and  co-operation 
became  mutually  agreeable.  The  evils  caused  by  the 
deed  ownership  of  land  became  constantly  clearer  and 
more  apparent  to  a  larger  number  of  our  population, 
and  the  c'onscious  burden  of  this  wrong  became  more 
and  more  painful  to  bear;  so  much  so  that  many  began 
to  abandon  their  vacant  land,  or  invited  others  to  co- 
operate with  them  on  equitable  terms. 

"In  this  manner  the  rude  community  was  born  and 


PRACTICAL.  CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  403 

developed.  The  tillers  of  the  soil  commenced  to  live 
and  work  together.  They  began  to  manufacture  their 
own  implements,  mine  their  own  minerals,  made  their 
own  medium  of  exchange,  and  bought  what  they 
needed  and  sold  what  they  had  to  spare  directly  to 
other  similar  rude  communities.  This,  for  want  of 
business,  forced  the  townsmen  out  of  the  cities  and 
towns  onto  vacant  land  to  provide  for  their  own  wants. 
The  reward  of  co-operation  and  of  individual  freedom 
strengthened  and  built  up  the  infant  community.  The 
communistic  production  was  so  abundant,  the  labor  so 
easy  and  pleasant,  and  the  social  life  so  agreeable  that 
even  the  dullest  began  to  see  the  advantages  and 
sought  to  become  a  constituent  part  of  a  community. 
"Thus  the  landowner,  as  land  gradually  depreciated 
in  commercial  value  from  the  effects  of  numerous 
abandonments  of  vacant  land,  was  even  pleased  to  have 
a  co-operating  community  take  up  and  work  his  land, 
because  he  would  produce  more  and  much  easier  as  a 
co-operator  than  as  an  owner  under  a  perverted  system. 
Thus  gradually  every  individual  became  a  member  of 
a  community.  This  communistic  co-operation  concen- 
trated population,  so  that  even  with  the  former  increase 
of  population,  there  is  still  at  present  an  abundance  of 
first-class  land  unoccupied  for  want  of  population,  and 
any  one  who  would  get  tired  of  co-operation  can  get  all 
the  land  he  wants  for  nothing  and  set  up  over  himself 
and  over  his  followers,  if  he  could  get  any,  any  kind 
of  religion  or  government  he  wished;  but  those  who 
have  once  tasted  the  advantages  of  voluntary  co-oper- 
ation and  individual  freedom  can  neveragain  be  induced 
to  become  the  dupes  of  poverty,  tyranny  and  supersti- 
tion." 


404  PKACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"How  did  your  present  money  or  medium  of  ex- 
change, come  into  general  use?"  asked  Mrs.  Uwins. 

"Let  me  explain  briefly,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "From 
the  explanation  I  have  given  you,  you  understand  how 
the  community  originated  and  developed  to  its  present 
size  and  arrangement.  You  also  know  how  your  nations 
on  earth  now  control  and  monopolize  the  issuing  of 
money,  and  how  your  business  transactions  are  more 
and  more  effected  by  means  of  commercial  papers  in- 
stead of  coin  and  currency. 

"In  the  beginning,  one  infant  community  in  buying 
and  selling  gave  a  kind  of  due-bill  to  the  other.  Men, 
instead  of  hunting  for  the  precious  metals  out  of  which 
to  make  money,  as  was  formerly  the  case  with  us  and 
as  is  still  the  ease  with  you,  directed  their  labor  toward 
the  production  of  food,  clothes,  shelter  and    luxuries. 

"Our  money  system  was  thus  gradually  perfected 
into  the  one  I  have  described  to  you  elsewhere.  This 
gradual  development  is  easily  traceable.  Of  course, 
with  money  as  with  everything  else,  the  fittest  will 
eventually  survive.  More  and  more  business  was  trans- 
acted by  means  of  commercial  papers  without  the  use 
of  government-monopolized  money.  As  the  commer- 
cial business  grew  more  simple  and  definite,  the  com- 
mercial apartment  in  our  big-houses  sprung  up  and 
became  more  perfect.  This  arrangement  and  rear- 
rangement continued  until  every  individual  has  his 
own  money  issued  by  the  community  on  his  monthly 
labor  record.  Practically,  each  individual  produces 
wealth,  and  on  this  wealth  he  has  his  money  issued 
monthly.  Under  these  conditions,  money  can  now  be 
obtained  only  by  productive  labor  and  by  voluntary 
gift,  and  all  productive  labor  receives  all  it  earns." 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  405 

"How  about  your  government?"  asked  Viola.  "How 
did  that  develop  to  its  present  form?  Will  you  please 
show  us  the  direction  of  its  growth  by  enumerating 
some  of  the  transitional  steps  by  which  it  has  reached 
its  present  perfection?" 

"I  think  I  shall  be  able  to  point  out  to  you  the 
direction  of  its  growth,"  said  Mr.  Midith.  "I  notice 
that  you. have  been,  and  are  now,  growing  government- 
ally  in  the  same  direction  as  we  grew,  and,  no  doubt, 
you  will  in  time  reach  the  same,  or  nearly  the  same,  end 
that  we  have  reached. 

"From  what  I  have  told  you  on  previous  occasions, 
you,  of  course,  understand  that  we  once  lived  in  small 
families  composed  of  husband  and  wife  and  their  chil- 
dren. These  families,  like  yours,  had  a  family  govern- 
ment. The  husband  generally  considered  himself  the 
'boss,'  or  head  of  the  family.  In  a  low  state  of  civili- 
zation he  maintained  his  authority  by  resorting  to 
physical  force  and  superstition.  He  often  thought  it 
necessary  and  even  his  duty  to  flog  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren when  they  refused  to  obey  his  orders.  Sometimes 
he  even  beat  them  to  death.  It  was  thought  then  that 
a  family  could  not  exist  successfully  without  some  such 
boss.  But  as  experience  gradually  taught  them  that 
such  cruel  course  of  conduct  produced  discord,  sullen- 
ness,  lies  and  deception,  the  element  of  physical  force 
constantly  diminished,  especially  toward  the  wife. 
Her  wishes  were  more  and  more  conceded  to  until  she 
finally  became  the  equal  to  the  husband  in  the  general 
management  of  the  family;  and  still  further  on  she 
managed  her  domestic  affairs  as  she  thought  best 
without  asking  the  permission  of  the  husband.  The 
growth   of  this   governmental  freedom  and  independ- 


406  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

encc  between  husband  and  wife  continued  until  both 
learned  that  each  is  best  capable  of  doing  their  own 
work  without  interfering  with  the  other.  E^ch  learned 
that  non-aggressiveness  produces  more  happiness  than 
aggressiveness.  Thus  did  the  government  begin  to 
change. 

"But  long  after  the  husband  and  wife  had  learned 
not  to  interfere  with  each  other's  course  of  manual 
labor,  they  deemed  it  still  necessary  to  employ  physi- 
cal force  in  the  training  and  management  of  their  chil- 
dren. Both  father  and  mother,  in  this  later  period, 
seemed  to  think  that  a  child  can  not  be  successfully 
reared  without  an  abundant  application  of  the  rod. 
Hence  the  maxim,  'He  who  loves  his  child  does  not 
spare  the  rod.'  But  later  on  the  parents  found  that 
they  were  mistaken  in  this,  the  same  as  the  husband 
had  formerly  been  mistaken  in  the  use  of  the  rod  on 
his  wife.  They  found  that  they  could  raise  a  much 
better  and  a  much  wiser  child  by  kindness  and  free- 
dom than  they  could  by  cruelty  and  slavery,  and 
that  both  parents  and  children  under  freedom  and 
gentleness  are  much  happier  than  they  could  other- 
wise be. 

"Quite  a  number  of  your  families  have  already 
reached  such  a  stage  of  culture  as  the  foregoing;  but 
such  is  not  the  end  of  family  freedom.  Long  after  a 
husband  and  wife  do  no  more  interfere  with  each 
other's  labor  affairs,  they  still  often  interfere  with  each 
other's  private  affairs  on  jealousy  and  other  grounds. 
One  is  often  not  free  to  act  as  he  desires  for  fear  that 
he  may  thereby  offend  the  other.  I  find  the  same  also 
to  be  true  with  regard  to  children.  You  have  many 
parents  that  have  put  aside  the  rod  long  ago;  yet  they 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  407 

believe  that  a  child  ought  to  remain  at  home  and  work 
for  the  parents  until  it  is  eighteen  or  twenty-one  years 
of  age,  and  such  parents  do  not  hesitate  to  enact 
statute  laws  to  that  effect. 

"Such  parents  seem  to  think  that  a  child  owes  a 
parent  a  great  surn  for  the  parental  care  it  received 
from  them,  and  that  it  requires  the  labor  of  the  child 
up  to  that  age.  Notice  that  the  parent  alone,  without 
the  consultation  of  the  child,  names  this  age,  and  he 
could  make  it  fifty  years  as  well  as  twenty-one.  But 
these  parents  seem  to  forget  that  they  r^c^W^a' parental 
care  during  their  infancy  and  that  they,  in  turn,  are 
bound  to  give  parental  care  or  else  die  a  debtor  to 
human  equity.  Free  persons  are  those  who  are  not 
forcibly  prevented  by  others  from  going  where,  ivhen, 
and  with  whom  they  please,  and  act  as  they  see  fit, 
provided  they  do  not  invade  the  equal  rights  of  others. 
For  example,  I  believe  that  Mr.  Uwins'  family  enjoys 
such  freedom,  and  that  many  others  are  gradually 
maturing  for  it.  At  least  during  my  stay  with  you,  I 
have  heard  no  command  from  any  one.  You  all  seem 
to  know  how  to  live  an  orderly  life  without  invading 
the  rights,  or  frustrating  the  wishes  of  each  other. 
The  children,  as  far  as  I  can  see,  enjoy  the  same  free- 
dom and  privileges  as  the  parents.  The  only  ties 
which  are  respected  between  husband  and  wife,  parent 
and  child  are  those  which  are  mutually  agreeable.  The 
foregoing  is  the  direction  in  which  our  family  govern- 
ment up  to  this  point  developed,  and  a  similar  growth 
is  already  discernible  here  on  earth. 

"But  do  not  understand  me  here  that  the  family 
development  was  the  only  one.  Religious  and  politi- 
cal  toleration   also   kept  pace  with  the  family.     The 


408  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

witch  fires  were  slowly  extint^uishcd,  the  'Benefit  of 
Clergy'  disregarded,  trial  by  ordeal  abandoned,  direct 
tithes  were  regarded  impositions,  church  and  state 
were  separated  first  in  theory  and  later  in  practice 
also,  colossal  churches  and  cathedrals,  which  were  once 
built  by  compulsory  taxation,  were  later  on  built  by 
voluntary  donation,  the  army  of  clergy  who  were  once 
a  social  caste  maintained  by  compulsory  taxation  be- 
came later  on  dependent  on  the  voluntary  gifts  of 
their  congregation.  So  step  by  step,  we,  like  you  are 
now  doing,  moved  toward  justice  and  freedom. 

"Politically  the  different  hordes  and  tribes  coalesced 
gradually  into  powerful  absolute  monarchies,  then 
they  slowly  changed  to  limited  monarchies,  then  to 
your  so-called  republics,  and  still  later  on  we  became 
free  as  we  now  are.  Gradually  the  sphere  of  compul- 
sory taxation  contracted  and  weakened.  Primitively 
a  person  passing  from  one  small  district  or  country  had 
to  pay  duty  on  himself  and  goods,  later  on  he  paid 
duty  only  on  his  goods,  still  later  all  migration  and 
commerce  became  free;  a  person  could  go  where  he 
pleased,  and  buy  and  sell  where  he  found  the  best 
market  without  paying  duty  on  anything." 

"Then  you  were  at  one  time  in  just  the  same  stages 
of  development  as  we  now  are!"  exclaimed  Rev.  Dud- 
ley. 

"Just  the  same,"  replied  Mr.  Midith. 

"And  now  'the  Marsites  are  much  further  than  we 
are,"  said  Mrs.  Uwins.  "What  interests  us  most  now 
is,  by  what  course  you  reached  your  present  destina- 
tion, so  that  we  may  make  our  intelligence  count  to 
propel  us  in  the  same  direction." 

"Well  let  us  try  then,  briefl}',  to  point  out  the  chan- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  4O9 

nel  through  which  we  passed.  By  the  advance  of  in- 
tellectual culture,  the  unjust  burden  of  compulsion  be- 
came continually  more  apparent  and  sensitive  to  a  larger 
proportion  of  the  people.  As  long  as  a  progressive 
people  believe  that  man  can  be  elevated  and  reformed 
by  human-made  laws — that  a  person's  'heart'  can  be 
made  good  by  the  ballot,  that  long  they  will  employ 
the  ballot,  and  that  long  the  rights  of  using  the  ballot 
will  be  given  to  a  continually  increasing  number  of  the 
people. 

"In  a  certain  political  stage,  the  absolute  monarch 
was  the  sole  ruler  and  law-maker;  then  a  few  advisers 
were  added;  then  a  parliament  with  hereditary  mem- 
bers; then  representatives  elected  by  a  certain  privi- 
leged class,  as  landlords,  etc.;  then  the  franchise  was 
vested  in  all  male  citizens,  who  were  of  'age,'  and  who 
owned  a  certain  amount  and  kind  of  property,  or  paid 
a  certain  sum  of  taxes  or  rent;  then  to  all  male  citizens 
who  were  of  'age,'  then  the  female  was  gradually  en- 
franchised, first  in  school  and  municipal  affairs,  then 
in  county  and  state  matters,  and  further  on  the  female 
had  the  same  privileges  to  use  the  ballot  as  the  male; 
and  then  the  age  of  political  majority  was  continually 
lowered  from  twenty-one  downward. 

"But  long  before  all  these  rights  were  accorded  to 
the  wife  and  child  by  the  masses,  the  more  thought- 
ful ones  of  the  age  had  learned  that  the  ballot  is  pow- 
erless in  bringing  about  justice,  prosperity  and  a  har- 
monious social  adjustment  between  man  and  man. 
Hence,  instead  of  voting  as  before,  they  slowly  ceased 
to  use  the  political  ballot,  and  began  to  direct  all  their 
progressive  energy  toward  self-improvement  and  the 
general  diffusion  of  knowledge.     By  these  means  their 


410  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

number  continually  increased  until  it  included  evei-y 
man,  woman  and  child  in  our  community  government 
which  I  have  described  to  you  before. 

"But  these  were  not  the  only  means  by  which  the 
compulsory  element  of  government  was  frustrated  and 
finally  defeated.  Compulsory  taxation  was  another 
element  which  matured  the  people  to  abolish  compul- 
sory government.  In  proportion  as  the  people  grew 
'.n  self-reliance,  individual  liberty  and  aversion  for  gov- 
ernment by  physical  force,  the  burden  of  compulsory 
taxation  became  more  and  more  sensitive.  In  the 
course  of  time  the  vast  majority  of  the  people  believed 
more  or  less  in  lying  and  otherwise  deceiving  the  assess- 
ors, so  as  to  avoid  paying  taxes;  and  the  assessors  gen- 
erally knew  themselves  that  the  tax-payers  were  lying 
to  them  when  they  enumerated  their  property  for 
assessment.  And  these  sentiments,  more  or  less,  are 
easily  traceable  with  your  tax-payer  here  on  earth.  As 
far  as  I  can  learn,  nearly  all  of  you  try  more  or  less  to 
deceive  your  assessors.  You,  like  we  first,  attempted 
in  this  matter  to  make  people  truthful  by  putting  them 
under  oath,  but  it  was  soon  found  that  when  people  do 
not  wish  to  pay  taxes  any  longer,  they  have  no  greater 
scruples  for  perjury  than  they  have  for  a  simple, 
straight  falsehood.  Thus  the  oath,  too,  became  pow- 
erless and  eventually  obsolete. 

"In  this  manner  the  taxes  and  duties  were  one  by 
one  taken  off  from  the  different  kinds  of  property,  so 
that  at  last  all  was  free.  The  cessation  of  compulsory 
taxation  caused  the  government  of  physical  force  first 
to  weaken  and  then  to  crumble  to  pieces.  It,  of 
course,  was  for  a  while  more  or  less  maintained  by 
voluntary  donations   by  those  who   still  believed  in  it, 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  4II 

in  a  somewhat  similar  manner  as  you  now  maintain 
churches  which  were  also  formerly  built  and  maintained 
by  the  state.  But  as  man's  sentiments  grew  more  and 
more  in  harmony  with  freedom,  the  compulsory  ele- 
ment slowly  disappeared  altogether,  as  we  now  find  it 
in  our  communities.  Thus  we  arrived  by  successive 
approximations  to  our  present  form  of  voluntary  gov- 
ernment. In  proportion  as  the  human-made  laws  were 
repealed  and  ignored,  natural  opportunity  became 
equally  open  to  all,  so  that  justice,  free  competition, 
and  a  healthy  supply  and  demand,  guided  by  a  con- 
stantly increasing  intelligence,  made  a  proper  adjust- 
ment of  all  things." 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

HOW  THE  TRANSITION  FROM  THE  OLD  TO  THE  NEW  ORDER 
OF  THINGS  WAS  ACCOMPLISHED. 

[  Concluded.  ] 

"Mr.  Midith,  you  have  not  yet  told  us  how  your  old 
marriage  system  was  gradually  superseded  by  your 
present  system  of  sexual  freedom,"  said  Rev.  Dudley. 
"I  am  sure  it  would  be  highly  interesting  to  us  to  have 
you  point  out  the  most  important   transitional   steps." 

"It  is,  of  course,  impossible  for  me  to  point  out  all 
the  countless  gradations  through  which  we  passed  in 
the  sex  relations  from  the  lowest  stages  of  barbarism 
to  that  highest  state  of  equal  sexual  freedom  which 
the  Marsites  now  enjoy,  It  will  suffice  here  to  say  that 
the  progress  with  us,  as  far  as  I  can  learn  up  to  the 
point  which  you  have  reached  at  the  present  time,  were 
almost  identical  with  yours. 

"Under  the  head  of  sex  relations  I  showed  you  how 
marriage  was  instituted,  both  here  and  on  Mars.  How 
the  primitive  savage  often  stole  or  captured  his  wife  or 
wives;  how  he  often  compelled  prisoners  of  war  to  be- 
come his  wife  or  wives;  how,  later  on,  the  father  or 
parent  sold  his  daughters  to  become  the  wives  of  the 
purchasers;  how,  still  later,  the  parents,  instead  of 
the  young  couple,  made  the  marriage  contract;  and 
now  the  contracting  parties  to  the  marriage,   at  least 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  413 

in  the  United  States  and  in  some  European  countries, 
are  generally  only  interfered  with  by  the  state;  that  is, 
the  state  demands  of  them  certain  acts  before  they 
can  live  together,  and  it  also  demands  of  them,  when 
once  married,  certain  other  acts  before  they  can  separate 
or  live  with  some  one  else;  that  is,  your  marriage  con- 
tract is  always  a  life  contract,  and  nothingbut  the  most 
flagrant  cruelties,  as  the  state  looks  upon  them,  will 
induce  the  state  to  grant  a  divorce. 

"The  last  is  the  highest  point  in  the  sex  relation 
that  the  earthly  inhabitants  have  thus  far  reached,  and 
I  need,  therefore,  not  point  out  any  of  the  gradations 
below  this  point,  for  you  have  passed  through  them  in 
almost  the  same  manner  as  we  did,  and  how  you  did 
pass  through  your  past  gradations  can,  to  a  certain  ex- 
tent, be  ascertained  from  your  historical  records.  But 
what  interests  you  most  is  how  we  made  the  transi- 
tional steps  of  advance  from  the  highest  point  that  you 
have  at  present  attained  to  that  complete  sexual  and 
other  freedom  which  the  Marsites  now  enjoy. 

"We  have  seen  that  all  advancement  is  wrought  out 
by  intelligence,  and  if  sexual  freedom  is  a  higher  and 
purer  state  of  human  activity  than  the  practice  of  wife- 
stealing  or  life-wedlock,  we  must  have  attained  that 
higher  plane  by  some  intellectual  powers  which  taught 
us  that  life,  accompanied  with  a  certain  quantity  and 
quality  of  intellectual  culture,  is,  as  a  whole,  purer, 
more  complete,  and  therefore  happier  under  sexual 
freedom  than  under  the  various  forms  of  force  mar- 
riage systems;  otherwise  the  statement  that  happiness 
is  a  feeling  which  we  seek  to  bring  into  consciousness 
and  retain  there  is  not  true. 

"The  trend  of  human  advancement,  then,  must  ever 


414  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

be  toward  individual  freedom;  not  only  in  the  sex- 
relations,  but  in  all  other  directions  also.  Let  me 
therefore  point  out  to  you  a  few  of  our  transitional 
steps  from  your  highest  present  sex-relations  to  that 
which  now  exists  on  Mars.  Let  us  also,  as  we  go 
along,  try  to  discover  if  any  of  the  same  signs  are 
already  discernible  here  on  earth. 

"When  we  were  in  }'our  present  stage  of  progress, 
our  marriage  contract  began  to  be  much  less  esteemed 
than  formerly;  the  power  of  the  church  and  state  was 
rapidly  waning;  the  ceremonies  grew  less  solemn,  and 
divorces  increased  in  number  and  respect.  All  these 
.signs  are  already  more  or  less  strongly  visible  with 
you,  too. 

"In  ancient  times  a  wife,  no  matter  how  much 
abused,  could  obtain  no  divorce  from  her  husband 
without  /lis  consent.  Later  on  thousands  of  wives 
obtained  divorces.  The  same  is  true  with  your  men 
and  women  now.  With  us  actresses  and  such  other 
ladies  who  were  best  capable  of  supporting  themselves 
financially  were  the  first  and  most  numerous  who  de- 
sired to  be  free  and  independent,  and  therefore  applied 
most  frequently  for  divorces  when  the  marriage  was  no 
longer  mutually  agreeable.  With  you  the  same  holds 
true. 

"As  several  couples  of  married  men  and  women  be- 
gan to  co-operate  and  live  together  in  the  same  house, 
they  all  grew  more  sociable  and  less  jealous  because 
each  desired  more  and  more  to  be  free  himself  and 
would  therefore  be  willing  to  accord  a  greater  latitude 
of  freedom  to  his  married  or  other  companions.  We 
can  already  often  see  slight  traces  of  that  with  you 
w^here   two    or   more   families  live  and  work  in  close 


PRACTICAL   CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  4,5 

proximity,  and  wliere  two  married  couples,  when  out 
walling  or  riding,  exxhange  ladies  and  gentlemen 

In  the  foregoing  stage  of  co-operation,  the  death 
of  a  man  or  a  wife  would  not  desolaL  and  b  eak  untie 

Plentvlert",      '"^,'°^'="'"-      T*^-'^    ""-    ^^^ 
plen  y  left  to  have  the  work  go  on  as  before.     In  this 

o^t in^ToT"'"'  ''"""'' u''  '"'^'^'"^  "^-"b-  -"'<^ 

same  ah  °f  V  """^^^  °'  "^"^  ^^-^'^  ^'l™-'  ''>= 

same  as  before      He  could  either  again  take  in  a  com- 
panion or  not,  just  as  he  pleased.     By  these  closerrd 

more  and  more  sensitive  to  injastice  and  discord      He 

looked  upon  aggressiveness  and  compulsion  of  every 

.twa,.dTA;°"""-">'   "— ing   repugnance.     The 

reec lorn   rr"i  '°"  °"  "'  °"'  '^^"''  ^""^  '"'""dual 

size'Trdrid"  '"""'"  ""  ^'"""■"'■"■«-  unfolded  in 
size,  order  and  prosperity,  and  as  each  member-man 

woman  and  child^became  more  and  more  int  lli.Tn  ' 

independent,  self-reliant  and  non-ac.gressive  Z\h 

pointed  out  in  the  preceding  part  otrnT^  ■„  i  i    ^^ 

ZTfolZT'-  T  ""  "^'"■•"""  °"--"Perstitio  IS 
get  he  tL  ""V""'  ""'  '■■*'"  °"  d-appeared  alto- 
gether. The  social  and  se.xual  web  grew  wider  nurer 
and  stronger.  All  forms  of  monopoly  died  w  ih  he 
compulsory  state.     Jealousy  and  aggressiveness  „!;! 

'^•i^i  '^'ff"  r' ""  ■"!,"'  ''>""^'-""'^  n:rrTe:i  g: 
bo  nds  Thr  rz'Tu" '™"  ''^  f--™"  --OW 

or    "r  '"dividual  became  the  sole  owner  of  his 

or  her  own  person.  We  began  to  feel  that  all  of  us 
had  received  parental  care  during  our  infancy  and   ha 


4l6  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

we  in  turn,  whether  parent  or  not,  should  do  the  same 
to  our  contemporaneous  infants.  The  sexual  affairs, 
with  the  enlargement  of  individual  freedom,  naturally 
glided  under  the  exclusive  control  of  the  woman  under 
whose  efficient  management,  sexual  freedom  and 
instructive  desires,  the  excessive  sexual  function  was 
gradually  reduced,  to  about  its  normal  activity,  the 
same  as  we  find  with  the  lower  animals  when  they  are 
in  a  state  of  freedom.  Thus  the  highest  human  efforts 
were  always  crowned  with  health,  purity,  freedom  and 
happiness. 

"I  am  well  aware  of  the  fact  that  these  higher  feel- 
ings of  which  I  have  here  spoken  are  not  sufficiently 
developed  in  the  masses  of  the  earthly  inhabitants  at 
the  present  time  to  be  keenly  appreciated  by  them. 
All  that  any  of  us  can  do  is  to  aid  in  bringing  the 
masses  up  to  that  standard  by  a  diffusion  of  a  higher 
intelligence  which  improves  their  organization.  As  I 
told  you  before,  a  rude  savage  would  not  feel  at  home 
in  an  elegantly  furnished  parlor,  but  he  is  not  to  blame 
for  the  fact  that  he  can  not  appreciate  such  a  parlor. 
His  organization  is  not  yet  in  tune  with  it.  He  must  be 
elevated  before  he  can  appreciate  such  surroundings. 
The  same  is  true  with  the  vast  majority  of  your  people. 
With  their  present  state  of  mind  they  can  not  appreci- 
ate those  higher  and  purer  feelings  of  which  I  have 
spoken;  if  they  could,  they  would  surely  have  them. 
A  rude,  uncleanly  person  would  find  it  a  great  burden, 
instead  of  a  comfort,  to  livea  life  appropriate  with  a 
clean,  elegant,  orderly  residence  in  which  there  would 
be  no  invasion,  and  equal  right. 

"To   illustrate:     Such  a  person  would   not   want  to 
clean  his  shoes  or  put  on  his  slippers  before  he  walked 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  417 

in.  He  would  want  to  spit  on  the  stove  or  floor.  He 
would  want  to  slam  the  doors  or  leave  them  open  after 
him  when  they  ought  to  be  closed.  He  would  want  to 
be  loud  and  noisy.  He  would  want  to  smoke,  chew 
and  get  drunk  in  it.  He  would  not  want  to  bathe  and 
divest  himself  of  his  labor-garments  which  are  scented 
with  perspiration.  He  would  find  no  delight  in  keep- 
ing his  finger  and  toe-nails  clean  and  trimmed.  He 
would  not  want  to  clean  his  teeth  nor  comb  his  hair.  He 
would  want  to  dictate  to,  and  domineer  over  his  phys- 
ically weaker  and  intellectually  inferior  companions. 
As  a  male  he  would  want  to  manage  sexual  affairs 
which  can  be  managed  with  purity  only  by  the  female. 
At  table  he  would  want  to  rise,  reach  and  smack  while 
eating.  He  would  want  to  interrupt  you  in  conversa- 
tion. At  night  he  would  want  to  come  into  the  house 
like  a  whirlwind,  waking  all  in  the  house.  From  labor 
he  would  want  to  shirk  all  he  could.  In  discussion  he 
would  get  angry  if  he  could  not  carry  his  point.  In 
courtship  he  would  become  pouty  and  jealous  if  things 
would  not  just  suit  him.  Instead  of  learning,  discuss- 
ing and  contemplating  something  high  and  noble,  he 
would  want  to  indulge  in  obscene  and  vulgar  frivolities. 
All  these  acts  would  be  inappropriate  with  a  fine  resi- 
dence and  highly  distasteful  to  a  cultivated  person 
whose  social  feelings  are  in  tune  with  a  clean  hand- 
some residence.  With  their  present  sentiments,  the 
vast  masses  of  your  people  would  therefore  not  appre- 
ciate the  wholesome  conduct  and  elegant  'big-houses' 
of  the  Marsites;  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  multitude  of 
your  rudest  men  and  women  would,  no  doubt,  turn  our 
elegant  dwellings  more  or  less  into  brothels,  filthy 
saloons,  smoking  rooms  and  nasty   spittoons.      They 


4l8  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

would  quarrel,  fight  and  shirk  from  their  equitable  labor. 
They  would  be  jealous  and  unclean.  But  all  this  is  no 
sign  that  our  social,  industrial  and  sexual  relations  are 
not  better  suited  for  a  higher  and  purer  life  than  your 
institutions  arc.  It  simply  shows  that  those  who  are 
not  in  sympathy  with  our  institutions,  or  who  deem 
them  impracticable  on  account  of  their  high  standard, 
still  contain  within  them  too  many  primitive  propensi- 
ties and  passions  which  are  revolting  against  a  health- 
ful, peaceable  life." 

"How  did  you  arrive  at  your  present  methods  of 
education?"  asked  Viola.  "I  am  sure  an  account  of 
some  of  the  most  important  transitional  steps  would 
be  very  interesting  to  us,  and  I  hope  that  you  will  find 
it  as  agreeable  to  give  us  the  explanation  as  it  will  be 
for  us  to  receive  it." 

"Of  course  I  need  not  tell  you  that  we  reached  the 
point  of  education  that  you  have  attained  at  present  by 
the  same  process  and  in  the  same  order  that  you  did, 
and  I  need,  therefore,  not  go  back  of  that  point,  for 
you  know  that  as  well  and  perhaps  better  than  I  do. 
It  is  modern  history  with  you  and  more  or  less  ancient 
with  me.  You  want  to  know  by  what  path,  from  your 
present  position,  you  can  reach  a  higher  plane. 

"We  have  seen  that  the  sovereignty  of  the  state 
gradually  weakened,  and  that  the  sovereignty  of  the 
individual  correspondingly  increased.  Your  public 
school  system  depends  for  its  financial  support  on  the 
power  of  the  state.  As  soon  as  the  state  loses  its 
power  of  compulsory  taxation,  the  public  school  can 
not  exist  on  its  present  principles. 

"But  mankind  will  always  maintain  existing  institu- 
tions until  they  begin  to  see  some  disadvantages,  or  un- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  419 

til  they  can  supplant  them  by  what  they  consider  to  be 
better  ones.  This  is  as  true  of  education  as  of  every- 
thing else.  Mankind  slowly  learns  that  not  all  instruc- 
tion furnishes  useful  information.  The  direct  object  of 
education,  as  we  have  seen,  is  to  discover  truth,  so  that 
we  may  live  in  accord  with  the  facts  of  the  universe; 
for  every  violation  of  a  natural  function  is  a  violation 
of  a  natural  law,  and  every  violation  of  a  natural  law  is 
attended  with  suffering.  Hence,  in  order  to  enjoy  the 
greatest  happiness,  the  ultimate  aim  and  end  of  all  sen- 
tient beings  must  be  to  live  in  tune  with  facts;  we  must 
understand  the  true  relations  of  things  so  that  we  may 
be  able  to  look  a  great  distance  into  the  future,  so  as 
to  avoid  or  remove  all  stumbling  blocks  from  our  path 
of  future  progress. 

"We  may  easily  illustrate  the  fact  that  not  all  in- 
struction furnishes  useful  information.  The  instruction 
which  was  inculcated  in  the  minds  of  the  people  dur- 
ing the  dark  ages  that  a  supernatural  power  may  be 
and  often  was  purchased  from  the  supposed  evil  fiend, 
was  instruction  which  led  to  the  torture  aud  murder  of 
millions  of  innocent  human  beings.  The  instruction, 
during  former  ages,  that  war  and  slavery  are  justifiable, 
has  done  an  immense  evil,  and  is  doing  so  still,  but 
in  a  somewhat  more  lenient  form.  Your  modern  instruc- 
tion that  profit,  interest,  rent  and  taxes  are  right,  and 
conducive  to  human  well-being,  is  causing  nearly  all 
your  present  evils  and  discord. 

"Some  are  beginning  to  see  and  feel  this  clearly. 
But  no  teacher  in  your  public  schools  is  allowed  at 
present  to  teach  that  profit,  interest,  rent,  and  taxes 
are  wrong  because  they  arise  from  the  monopolization 
of  natural  opportunity  and  arc  therefore  destructive  to 


420  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

the  highest  human  welfare.  No  teacher  in  your  public 
school  is  allowed  to  teach  that  we  ought  never  to  take 
up  a  gun  for  the  purpose  of  shooting  our  neighbor  in 
defense  of  any  flag;  for  a  man  as  such  is  always  better 
than  a  flag;  for  a  collection  of  people  can  even  be 
happier  and  more  orderly  without  a  flag  than  with  one. 
As  a  rule,  your  teacher  who  teaches  that  your  women 
are  not  enjoying  the  same  privileges  that  your  men 
enjoy  is  looked  down  upon,  and  your  board  of  direct- 
ors or  state  do  not  desire  to  employ  such  a  person  as 
teacher.  They  look  upon  him  as  the  contemporaries 
of  Socrates  looked  upon  Socrates. 

"By  this  you  can  plainly  see  that  thousands  of  your 
most  cultivated  and  thoughtful  teachers  of  your  public 
schools,  the  same  as  many  of  your  preachers,  are  not 
at  liberty  to  teach  all  their  best  thoughts  and  senti- 
ments. The  masses  are  not  sufficiently  matured  intel- 
lectually to  assimilate  them.  He  must  therefore  sup- 
press some  of  his  best  thoughts. 

"In  proportion  as  people  became  conscious  of  the 
facts,  they  lost  their  patriotic  sentiments  for  the  com- 
pulsory public  schools,  and  they  could  find  no  other 
solution  out  of  the  difficulty  than  to  take  the  control 
of  school  education  out  of  the  hands  of  the  state  and 
place  it  in  the  hands  of  the  individual,  the  same  as 
they  had  done  with  the  church  long  before.  You  see 
as  long  as  we  are  compelled  by  the  state  to  think  only 
in  one  narrow,  prescribed  channel,  there  is  little  op- 
portunity for  rapid  mental  development.  Under  this 
state  constraint,  some  of  the  best  thoughts  are  fre- 
quently never  born,  and  if  they  are  born,  they  are 
generally  dwarfed  for  want  of  room  and  opportunity. 
All  who  desire    aid  from  the  public  school  room  are 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  421 

compelled  to  walk  within  the  narrow  path  laid  out  by 
the  state. 

"But  things  are  entirely  different  when  any  in- 
dividual, under  free  competition,  can  open  a  school  and 
teach  whatever  he  desires.  His  school  must  then 
prosper  by  virtue  of  its  own  merits,  in  a  large  field  of 
keen,  free  competition.  Under  individual  instruction 
there  would  be  the  widest  possible  difference  in  the 
course  of  study  and  in  the  mode  of  discipline.  All 
could  very  likely  be  suited  somewhere,  no  matter  how 
widely  they  may  differ  in  thought  and  belief.  Those 
who  desire  to  pray  Could  find  schools  in  which  prayer 
is  the  most  important  exercise;  those  who  desire  to 
study  the  doctrine  of  special  creation  could  find  their 
school  and  teacher.  The  evolutionist  could  find  his. 
There  would  be  schools  in  which  all  the  various  phases 
of  thought  were  taught  and  discussed — social,  politi- 
cal, theological,  industrial,  sexual,  and  scientific.  Under 
such  keen,  free  competition,  all  but  the  fittest  would 
soon  disappear." 

"But  did  you  not  say,  Mr.  Midith,  that  ministers, 
too,  often  feel  the  burden  of  narrowness  brought  to 
bear  upon  them  by  their  congregati^ons?  They  are  not 
under  the  control  of  the  state.  How,  then,  do  you 
reconcile  these  facts?"  asked  Rev.  Dudley. 

"  In  the  first  place,  they  are  partly  under  state 
monopoly,  because  church  property  is  exempt  from 
taxation,  while  other  property  is  taxed.  In  the  church 
there  is  a  wide  range  of  latitude  in  the  thought  and 
belief  between  the  most  primitive  Catholic,  who 
believes  himself  to  be  under  the  guidance  and  pater- 
nalism of  an  infallible  pope,  and  the  most  liberal  Uni- 
tarian or  Universalist,  who  is  free  nearly  to  believe  as 


422  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

he  likes.  As  a  minister,  then,  nearly  every  one  can 
find  a  gradation  of  individual  freedom  corresponding 
with  his  intellectual  advancement,  and  when  he  is  ready 
to  step  out  of  the  church  beyond  all  sectarian  dogmas, 
he  is  at  liberty  to  do  so  at  any  time.  He  is  not  now 
forced  by  the  state,  like  formerly,  to  be  a  member  of  a 
particular  church,  or  of  any  church,  nor  is  he  forced  to 
contribute  toward  the  support  of  any  church  more 
than  the  increase  of  his  taxation  caused  by  the  exemp- 
tion of  church  property.  But  with  your  public  school 
and  your  teacher  it  is  altogether  different.  You  are 
taxed  to  support  them  whether  you  are  in  sympathy 
with  them  or  not;  whether  you  send  your  children  to 
the  public  school,  or  to  a  private  one  where  you  pay 
tuition.  The  state-prescribed  course  of  study  and  mode 
of  discipline  are  nearly  alike  everywhere.  There  is 
but  one  narrow  channel  in  which  your  intellectual 
activity  must  be  confined.  In  your  state-schools,  you 
as  an  individual  can  not,  like  a  minister  and  a  church 
member,  pass,  step  by  step,  as  you  grow  intellectually, 
through  a  wide  range  toward  the  more  liberal,  and  even 
pass  entirely  beyond  all  sectarian  doctrines,  like  the 
tendency  of  your  present  theological  movement  clearly 
indicates.  A  minister,  under  your  present  regime,  can 
preach  any  doctrine  he  desires  from  an  independent 
pulpit,  but  an  independent  school  is  taxed  out  of  exist- 
ence by  the  state,  because  the  private  teacher  can  not 
get  the  required  number  of  pupils  as  long  as  the  par- 
ents of  the  pupils  must  first  pay  taxes  to  support  the 
public  school  and  then  pay  tuition  to  the  private 
teacher. 

"Let  me  give  an  illustration.     The  church,  I  think, 
furnishes  the  best  example,  showing   how  your  public 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  423 

school  will  slowly  but  gradually  lose  its  despotic  state 
power  and  influence.  According  to  your  history,  only 
a  comparatively  few  years  ago  your  people  thought 
that  the  church  and  state  were  inseparably  bound 
together  by  some  superhuman  tie.  You  then  thought 
that  it  was  the  state's  duty  to  look  after  the  welfare  of 
the  'soul'  as  well  as  the  body.  Churches  were  built 
and  the  clergy  maintained  by  compulsory  taxation,  the 
same  as  you  now  build  and  maintain  public  schools  and 
teachers.  There  was  but  one  denomination  then,  and 
every  person  was  a  member  of  that  denomination  or 
church.  But  as  the  mind  unfolded  toward  self-reliance, 
kindness  and  individual  liberty,  different  denomina- 
tions were  born  to  suit  the  rising  intelligence.  Thus 
step  by  step  the  separation  of  church  and  state  con- 
tinued until  the  only  remnant  of  compulsory  authority 
the  state  claims  to  exercise  over  the  church  at  present 
is  to  exempt  her  property  from  taxation,  and  that  rem- 
nant is  already  getting  very  feeble. 

"Thus  we  see  that  the  church  continually  grew 
weaker  in  dictatorial  authority  and  membership,  and 
stronger  in  simplicity  and  individual  freedom.  With 
every  forward  step  of  advance  it  became  more  natural, 
and  this  forward  movement  continued  with  us  and  will, 
no  doubt,  continue  with  you  until  the  church  loses 
itself  in  nature  by  becoming  identical  with  it.  Only  a 
few  centuries  ago  nearly  every  man,  woman  and  child 
in  your  Christian  w^orld  was  a  church  member.  Now 
the  population  of  the  United  States  in  round  numbers 
is  about  60,000,000;  of  these  about  8,000,000  are 
Catholics  and  about  12,000,000  are  Protestants.  About 
20,000,000  out  of  the  60,000,000  are  church  members. 
Formerly,  then,  the  rate  per  cent,  of  church  members 


424  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDlVIDUALlSVl. 

was  nearly  lOO  per  cent.,  now  it  is  only  33  per  cent. 
More  than  66  per  cent,  passed  through  tfie  successive 
steps  of  theological  liberty,  or  they  passed  entirely  be- 
yond all  theological  dogmas  as  far  as  church  member- 
ship is  concerned. 

"In  a  similar  manner  did  our  public  school  lose  its 
state  authority.  As  I  have  told  you,  the  state  itself, 
in  all  its  functions,  was  gradually  weakened,  and  lost 
its  paternalism  with  every  step  of  intellectual  advance 
and  personal  liberty.  But  the  disappearance  of  the 
public  school  was  more  rapid  than  the  disappearance 
of  the  state  in  some  other  direction.  Men  gradually 
withdrew  from  the  old,  narrow,  despotic  school,  the 
same  as  they  had  withdrawn  from  the  old,  narrow, 
cruel  church.  As  the  intellectual  sun  of  freedom,  kind- 
ness and  prosperity  rose  and  shed  his  congenial  rays 
on  our  progressive  Mars,  the  chains  of  superstition, 
cruelty  and  slavery  fell  off  one  by  one;  and  the  same 
tendency  is  already  discernible  with  you.  I  find  that 
many  of  your  foremost  thinkers  and  most  impartial 
judges  feel  the  narrowness  and  stagnation  of  your  pub- 
lic school  and  your  system  of  education.  They  favor 
the  abolition  of  state  schools  and  the  substitution  of 
private  institutions  in  which  there  is  a  wide  range  of 
liberty,  so  that  every  teacher  can  teach  what  he  de- 
sires, and  every  child  can  go  where  it  desires.  In  such 
a  keen,  free  field  of  competition  every  teacher  and 
school  must  stand  or  fall  by  their  own  merit,  and  the 
survival  of  the  fittest  will  soon  crowd  out  all  others. 

"The  public  school,  before  its  disappearance,  as- 
sumed different  forms.  The  teachers  grew  in  kindness 
and  ability.  The  da}'s  were  shortened.  I  mean  the 
school  day  in  the  compulsory  school-room.     The  weeks 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  42$ 

and  years  were  also  gradually  shortened.  The  child 
became  a  freer  agent  in  a  more  natural  position.  In 
the  course  of  time  the  people  of  the  cities  and  towns 
erected  and  supported  spacious  public  buildings  in  the 
most  suitable  parts  of  their  cities  and  towns.  These 
buildings  were  intended  for  enjoyment  and  also  for  the 
acquisition  of  useful  information,  not  for  the  man  only, 
like  most  of  your  public  buildings  now  are,  ex- 
cept the  churches,  but  for  the  wife  and  child  also. 
Every  man,  woman  and  child  who  wished  to  enjoy  a 
social  intercourse  for  a  few  hours,  either  during  the 
day  or  evening,  could  always  find  a  fit  place  in  these 
public  buildings. 

"These  public  buildings,  or  natural  schools,  were 
built  on  the  center  of  about  four  acres  of  the  most  suit- 
able land  in  the  center  of  a  town.  Of  course,  in  large 
cities  there  were  many  such  buildings.  The  ground 
was  fenced  so  that  no  small  child  could  get  out.  The 
entrance  was  guarded  by  a  trustworthy  person  so  that 
little  children  could  not  leave  the  ground  without  a 
nurse  to  care  for  them.  This  arrangement  insured 
mothers  and  others  that  their  children  were  out  of 
danger  when  brought  within  the  inclosure.  Part  of  the 
inclosure  was  fitted  up  for  a  play-ground,  part  of  it  for 
an  outdoor  nursery,  and  the  remainder  was  planted  in 
flowers  and  ornamental  trees,  etc.  These  buildings,  or 
natural  schools,  were  divided  into  apartments  by  mov- 
able partitions,  so  that  it  could  be  set  off  into  rooms  or 
be  thrown  all  into  one  hall.  This  inclosure  and  build- 
ing were  in  charge  of  several  lady  and  gentlemen 
marshals,  or  teachers.  (But  both  the  marshals  and 
teachers  had  already  lost  nearly  all  of  their  aggressive- 
ness.) These  teachers  instructed  the  children  wherever 


426  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

they  found  thenL  The  child  studied  biology,  botany, 
geology,  physiology  and  psychology  whenever  it  went 
in  the  inclosure.  It  received  instruction  in  music, 
reading,  language,  elementary  sounds,  cleanliness, 
politeness,  honesty,  truthfulness  and  kindness  by  words 
and  examples,  and  all  this  was  done  in  such  a  natural 
and  pleasant  manner  that  the  child  was  not  aware  that 
it  was  studying.  At  the  close  of  the  day  it  would  ex- 
claim,'To-day  we  had  lots  of  fun!  I  shall  be  here 
again  early  to-morrow  morning!' 

"These  natural  schools,  or  places  of  amusement, 
were  supplied  with  a  fine  library,  all  kinds  of  musical 
instruments,  commodious  and  elegant  furniture,  a  fine 
laboratory  and  a  good  supply  of  philosophical  appara- 
tus, and  a  supply  of  confectionery  and  articles  of 
amusement." 

"But  is  not  that  quite  expensive,"  asked  Rev. 
Dudley,  "to  purchase  the  land,  erect  and  furnish  the 
building,  and  pay  the  teachers;  and  do  you  think  that 
our  bad  boys  would  appreciate  all  this  after  all?" 

"The  cost  of  it  would  not  begin  to  be  as  much  as 
that  which  you  expend  in  saloons,  liquor,  opium, 
tobacco  and  cigars.  Your  men  build  their  saloons, 
club-houses,  etc.,  and  spend  in  the  United  States  alone 
about  a  thousand  million  dollars  for  liquor,  and  over 
two  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  for  tobacco, 
cigars  and  cigarettes  per  annum,  and  they  handle 
nearly  all  the  money,  but  invest  scarcely  a  nickle  for 
the  wife  and  child  in  public  buildings  and  places  of 
learning  and  amusement. 

"And  as  to  the  bad  boys,  it  is  no  wonder  that  they 
are  bad  with  the  treatment  they  receive;  the  wonder  to 
me    is    that   your  women    and  children  do  not  revolt 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  42/ 

against  the  tyrannical  treatment  of  the  men.  As  long 
as  you  coerce  your  boys,  who  are  chased  from  store  to 
store,  from  postofifice  to  street,  and  kicked  out  of  the 
saloon  by  the  father  who  happens  to  be  there,  that 
long  you  can  not  expect  your  boys  to  be  what  you  want 
them  to  be.  I  never  saw  any  of  your  boys  do  any- 
thing so  bad  and  cruel  but  what  I  saw  your  men  do 
something  worse  and  more  cruel.  No  doubt,  if  you 
treat  your  boys  and  girls  kindly  and  justly  they  will 
be  just  as  good  as  our  boys. 

"But  we  are  digressing  from  our  subject;  let  us  re- 
turn to  it.  From  what  I  have  told  you,  you  can,  no 
doubt,  see  the  tendency  of  educational  advancement 
by  a  comparison  of  religious  progress.  To  be  sure  in 
my  limited  narration,  I  can  array  only  a  few  of  the 
most  important  facts  to  suggest  others. 

"The  primitive  savage  has  not  the  mental  ability 
and  desire  for  deep  thought  and  profound  study.  As 
the  tribes  coalesce  and  the  brain  increases  in  size  and 
function  by  a  wider  social  intercourse  and  a  more  com- 
plex experience  concomitant  with  a  greater  national 
union,  he  begins  to  believe  that  man's  'heart'  can  be 
made  perfect  by  the  guidance  of  man-made  laws.  In 
this  mental  stage,  he  endeavors  to  put  everything  un- 
der the  dominion  of  man-made  laws,  the  same  as  in 
former  periods,  he  put  everything  under  the  dominion 
of  his  own  created  Deity.  In  this  law-period,  he  owns 
his  land  by  law;  he  makes  his  money  by  law;  he  owns 
slaves;  kills  witches  and  heretics,  builds  churches  and 
school-houses,  organizes  and  disciplines  an  army,  exe- 
cutes criminals  and  marries  all  by  law.  Everything 
which  is  done  in  accordance  to  law  is  considered  right 
and  just.     He  is  now  an  aggressor  and  invader,  but  with 


428  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

a  still  higher  intelligence  and  a  higher  sense  of  justice, 
he  begins  to  question  the  justice  and  equity  of  a  man- 
made  /azv.  He  finds  that  aggressiveness  implies  dis- 
cord, and  that  society  can  never  be  orderly  and  happy 
as  long  as  there  are  aggressors  and  invaders. 

"So  it  was  with  the  school,  and  with  the  entire  sys- 
tem of  education.  The  state  school  or  public  school, 
was  succeeded  by  private  schools.  Our  idea  of  school 
and  education  now  rapidly  broadened.  With  the  en- 
largement of  the  family  and  community  all  parents,  by 
the  assistance  of  co-operation  and  closer  association, 
became  better  educated  and  more  highly  cultivated,  and 
this  general  advancement  continued  until  every  person, 
young  and  old,  was  considered  a  teacher,  and  every 
field,  yard,  park  and  'big-house'  an  institution  of  learn- 
ing; the  direct  teaching  changed  almost  wholly  to  the 
indirect.  Here  you  see  that  the  school,  too,  loses  it- 
self in  nature  by  becoming  identical  with  it.  Just  as 
every  person  in  a  former  period  became  his  own  minis- 
ter and  preached  whatever  doctrines  he  pleased,  so 
does  every  person  now  become  or  is  his  own  teacher 
and  teaches  whatever  and  wherever  he  pleases,  and  our 
education  continues  as  long  as  we  live.  We  do  not 
graduate  at  the  age  of  fifteen  or  twenty  like  you  do. 
Hence,  our  system  of  education  is  now  perfectly  free, 
natural  and  agreeable.  It  has  turned  into  play.  We 
study  only  those  things  which  are  agreeable  to  us. 
But  you  must  not  forget  that  the  higher  branches  of 
study  and  inquiry  are  more  agreeable  as  our  mental 
ability  increases. 

"By  improved  intercommunication  of  travel  and 
correspondence,  the  survival  of  the  fittest  rapidly  di- 
minished the  number  of  languages,  until   but  one   was 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  429 

left,  and  this  one  is  so  simple  and  easily  learned  by  al- 
ways hearing  it  spoken  correctly  that  very  little  tech- 
nical grammar  is  now  studied.  With  the  lapse  of  time 
we  began  to  see  more  and  more  clearly  that  he  who  is 
capable  of  living  with  the  most  complex  structure  and 
function,  most  nearly  in  accord  with  the  facts  of  the  uni- 
verse, is  most  highly  educated;  and  he  who  is  least  ag- 
gressive is  most  highly  cultivated,  because  these  condi- 
tions are  necessary  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  greatest 
happiness.  Thus  all  the  social,  industrial  and  sexual 
questions  gradually  became  a  part  of  our  practical  course 
of  study  in  our  daily  life. 

"I  am  aware  that  my  explanation  of  education  has 
been  very  brief,  but  I  have  already  kept  you  too  far 
into  the  night.  I  am  afraid  that  I  am  teaching  you  a 
bad  lesson  when  I  keep  you  up  too  late.  On  some 
future  occasion  we  may  be  able  to  have  more  of  the 
details,  but  now  it  is  time  to  retire." 


CHAPTER   XXVI. 

FAVORABLE     NEWS. 

On  Saturday  evening  Mr.  Midith  returned  from  the 
post-office  with  a  letter  in  his  hand,  an  unusual  bright- 
ness in  his  eye,  and  an  additional  elasticity  in  his  step. 
The  family  were  seated  on  the  porch  when  he  returned, 
and  as  he  approached  he  said: 

"I  have  received  very  favorable  news  from  the  fin- 
ancial committee  of  San  Francisco,  of  whom  I  told  you 
the  other  evening.  They  say  they  have  met  with  com- 
plete success  in  the  organization  of  a  company  who 
will  undertake  to  search  for  my  projectile.  They  have 
plenty  of  funds  to  prosecute  the  work  on  an  extensive 
and  thorough  scale.  They  want  me  to  come  by  first 
train,  so  as  to  assist  them  all  I  can  in  ascertaining  the 
locality  as  nearly  as  possible  where  the  projectile  im- 
merged  on  my  arrival  on  earth,  and  also  to  be  present 
at  a  meeting  which  is  to  be  held  there  a  few  evenings 
hence.  If  I  start  on  the  next  limited  train  I  can  just 
reach  San  Francisco  in  time  for  that  meeting.  It  is  an 
important  event  in  my  life,  and  I  must  by  no  means 
miss  it. 

"Perhaps  I  may  yet  be  able  some  day  to  see  my 
native  world  once  more,  to  enjoy  the  kind,  peaceable 
society  which  it  has  developed  and  blessed  with  intelli- 
gence and  prosperity.  I  may  be  able  once  more  to 
drink  a  draught  from  its    almost  faultless  social  and 

430 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  43I 

economic  fountains;  to  press  the  hand  and  kiss  the  lips 
of  those  who  are  dear  to  me." 

"We  can  never  let  you  return  to  Mars  unless  you 
can  take  us  with  you,"  said  Viola.  "The  earth  is  deso- 
late enough  with  you  in  it,  and  without  you  it  would  be 
much  more  so.  But  if  you  find  your  projectile  you 
may  be  able  to  establish  a  line  of  intercommunication 
between  Mars  and  the  earth;  if  so,  we  can  all  go.  That 
will  be  grand,  indeed." 

"We  will  do  the  very  best  we  can,"  replied  Mr. 
Midith.  "We  can  tell  better  what  we  can  do  after  we 
find  the  projectile  and  see  what  repairs  it  needs,  and 
whether  or  not  those  repairs  can  be  made  by  the  aid  of 
earthly  skill  and  machinery.  Of  course,  you  under- 
stand that  it  is  no  little  thing  to  make  a  projectile 
which  will  traverse  the  vast  distance  between  the  earth 
and  Mars.  It  is  an  undertaking  which  probably 
borders  on  the  boundaries  of  human  possibilities." 

We  all  expressed  our  regrets  of  having  Mr.  Midith 
depart  from  our  midst.  Our  curiosity  concerning  the 
new  world  and  its  inhabitants  of  which  Mr.  Midith  had 
already  told  us  so  much,  was  not  half  satisfied,  but,  on 
the  contrary,  the  novelty  of  it  increased  in  proportion 
as  we  learned  the  realities  of  it. 

"It  will  be  quite  lonesome  at  first  when  you  are 
gone,"  said  Mr.  Uwins,  "  and  we  have  not  heard  half 
as  much  of  your  world  as  we  would  like  to,  and  I  hope 
ior  your  sake  that  you  will  be  successful  in  your  enter- 
prise; but  I  also  hope  that  your  business  may  be  such 
that  you  can  do  the  most  of  it  when  you  are  here  with 
us." 

"My  train  by  which  I  must  leave  you,  at  least  for  a 
few  days,  is  due  here  at  ten  o'clock;  but  I  am   almost 


432  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

certain  that  I  shall  return  very  shortl)'.  It  seems  that 
I  can  not  leave  your  hospitable  home  for  any  consider- 
able length  of  time  as  long  as  I  am  a  resident  of  this 
earth,"  said  Mr.  Midith,  after  Mr.  Uwins  had  finished 
speaking.  "  No  doubt  all  I  can  do  on  the  coast  is  to 
attend  that  meeting  and  tell  the  dredgers  as  nearly  as  I 
can  where  my  projectile  went  down  in  the  Pacific.  The 
parties  who  have  undertaken  the  search  for  the  pro- 
jectile must  be  highly  interested  in  the  project,  for  I 
have  corresponded  with  them  only  a  few  days  and  have 
given  them  only  a  very  few  facts  concerning  my 
history." 

"  I  very  much  regret  that  you  must  leave  us,  said 
Mrs.  Uwins.  "  I  have  become  so  interested  in  the  nar- 
rative of  your  just  and  beautiful  world  that  I  do  not 
like  to  have  you  leave  off  telling  before  we  have  heard 
the  whole  of  it." 

"  I  have  told  you  but  a  little  so  far,"  replied  Mr. 
Midith,  "  but  when  I  return  from  the  coast,  I  shall  tell 
you  much  more;  and  if  we  succeed  in  finding  the  pro- 
jectile, I  will  tell  and  show  you  all  about  its  construc- 
tion and  operation  ;  how  it  was  gradually  improved 
from  time  to  time,  the  same  as  your  locomotive  or 
threshing  machine.  There  are  also  countless  other  de- 
tails, of  which  I  have  so  far  said  nothing." 

"  It  is  more  than  an  hour  and  a  half  before  your 
train  is  due,"  said  Mr.  Uwins,  "  and  we  cannot  afford 
to  have  you  silent  as  long  as  you  are  with  us.  I  shall, 
therefore,  ask  you  a  question  that  I  have  been  wanting 
to  ask  you  several  times  before,  but  never  got  to  it; 
and  that  is,  how  you  dispose  of  your  dead,  your  obse- 
quies, mourning,  monuments,  etc." 

"We    do    not    bury  the    dead  at  present,   like  you 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  433 

do  and  like  we  formerly  did,  but  we  cremate 
them.  Every  community  has  a  '  crematorium,'  and 
a  corps  of  undertakers,  who  take  charge  of  the 
corpse  immediately  after  death.  They  are  notified 
by  the  attending  physicians  or  friends  of  the  de- 
ceased. The  undertakers  convey  the  corpse  to  the 
crematorium,  where  it  is  laid  out  in  an  open  casket  un- 
til it  shows  unmistakable  signs  of  decay  and  dissolu- 
tion, after  which  it  is  cremated.  These  undertakers 
also  clean,  disinfect  and  otherwise  prepare  the  apart- 
ment of  the  deceased  for  the  reception  of  a  new  occu- 
pant. 

"  The  old  form  of  interment  was  gradually  super- 
seded by  cremation  for  a  number  of  reasons;  the  prin- 
cipal one  is  that  cremation  offers  greater  security  to 
the  living.  An  interred  body,  having  died  from  the 
effects  of  a  contagious  disease,  may,  under  certain 
conditions,  easily  spread  the  disease  or  contagion; 
while  a  cremated  one  can  not.  The  atom  of  the  con- 
tagious corpse,  after  dissolution  by  combustion,  is  no 
more  dangerous  to  life,  as  far  as  we  know,  than  the 
atom  from  a  decomposed  corpse  having  died  from  old 
age.  It  is  true  that  contagious  diseases  are  almost  un- 
known with  us,  but  a  careful  guard  against  them  on  all 
sides,  and  other  favorable  conditions,  has  made  it  so. 
Display,  unnecessary  contact  and  carelessness  in  dis- 
posing of  the  dead  has  cost  us  and  you  an  untold 
number  of  lives,  and  you  are  paying  dearly  for  it  still. 

"Our  obsequies  are  the  simplest  possible;  in  fact,  I 
think  you  would  call  them  no  obsequies  at  all.  As 
soon  as  a  physician  has  notified  the  undertakers  or  cre- 
mators of  the  death  of  a  person,  they  take  the  corpse 

with  their  motor-hearse  to  the  crematorium,     No  one 
2^ 


434  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

except  the  cremators  follows  the  corpse  to  his  final 
place  of  dissolution;  for  it  can  not  be  the  desire  of  a 
highly  cultivated  being,  who  has  the  highest  welfare 
and  greatest  happiness  of  his  friends  and  companions 
at  heart,  to  have  them  follow  his  senseless  corpse,  when 
such  an  act  can  not  conduce  to  his  personal  happiness; 
when  it  involves  nothing  but  unproductive  and  de- 
structive labor.  A  funeral  procession  also  tends  to 
spread  contagious  diseases,  and  prolong  the  mournful 
and  depressed  feelings  caused  by  the  death  of  a  dear 
friend.  No  one  who  clearly  sees  these  and  other  evils 
can  consistently  desire  his  surviving  friends  to  follow 
him  in  a  funeral  procession.  Our  aid  and  sympathy 
are  always  with  the  living,  for  death  has  satisfied,  at 
least,  all  the  material  and  mental  wants  of  the  de- 
ceased, and  these  are  all  the  wants  we  have  any  posi- 
tive knowledge  of. 

"Let  us  examine  this  from  another  point  of  view. 
From  historical  records,  and  from  the  present  practices 
of  savages,  we  find  that  funeral  rites  and  processions 
are  born  in  barbarous  times,  and  first  practiced  by 
primitive  savages,  and  that  all  you  have  left  of  them  at 
present  are  only  the  modified  remnants  of  former  bar- 
barity and  superstition. 

"The  primitive  savage  worships  his  deceased  ances- 
tors; he  embalms  them;  he  assigns  them  the  best  place 
at  the  table  during  the  time  of  a  feast;  he  often  inters 
his  horse,  his  gun  and  a  number  of  slaves  with  him. 
His  wife  has  often  such  a  profound  'respect'  for  the 
dead  that  she  often  voluntarily  cremates  herself  alive 
on  the  funeral  pyre  of  her  deceased  husband. 

"Thus  we  see  at  a  glance  that  the  savage  has  a 
much  profounder  respect  for  the  dead,  and    much  less 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  435 

respect  for  the  living  than  the  more  cultivated  person 
has,  and  this  change  gradually  continues  until  all  our' 
help  and  sympathies  are  with  the  living,  for  the  dead 
can  not  utilize  them. 

"You  do  not  at  present  directly  bury  the  living  in 
the  same  tomb  with  the  dead  like  the  savage  did  and 
still  does;  but,  no  doubt,  you  often  indirectly  do  it. 
I  have  seen  more  than  once,  while  I  have  been  living 
on  earth,  that  a  bereaved  widow  who  was  completely 
broken  down  by  the  bereavement,  care  and  attention 
she  had  given  to  her  sick  husband,  follow  hini  for 
miles  in  a  slow  funeral  procession  during  a  rain 
or  snowstorm,  and  also  at  times  when  the  temper- 
ature was  almost  unbearably  high  or  low.  It  seems 
to  me  that  no  highly  cultivated  person,  who  has 
the  well-being  and  happiness  of  his  surviving  compan- 
ions at  heart,  can  form  a  conception  that  the  uncon- 
scious dead  would  appreciate  such  useless  hardships 
from  their  dearest  friends  even  if  they  could  know. 
After  we  had  learned  that  all  our  acts  and  sympathies 
should  go  with  the  living — that  the  dead  are  uncon- 
scious and  that  all  organs  and  faculties,  as  far  as  we 
know  and  have  reason  to  believe,  suspend  their  function 
in  death — we  no  longer  could  expend  any  useless 
efforts  for  the  supposed  whims  of  the  dead.  We  do 
all  we  can  for  them  while  they  live,  but  death  ends  all 
our  physical  ties. 

"We  never  wear  mourning  for  a  number  of  reasons. 
As  I  have  said  before,  no  person  of  high  culture  can 
desire  his  surviving  friends  to  undergo  any  useless 
hardship  and  privation  on  Jiis  account;  and  mourning 
has  a  tendency  of  increasing  the  burden  of  grief  by 
making  the   surroundings   more  solemn  and  gloomy. 


436  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

Our  aim  should  be  to  make  the  surroundings  of  the 
bereaved  as  attractive,  cheerful,  and  gay  as  possible. 
A  living  person  of  learning  and  culture  would  desire 
his  friends  to  be  as  happy  as  possible;  and  a  dead  one, 
if  he  could  know  anything,  would  be  a  tyrant  if  he 
were  different. 

"  The  foregoing  propositions  are  based  upon  the 
facts  that  it  is  in  the  inherent  nature  of  things  that 
death  must  necessarily  come  to  all.  That  no  amount 
of  fretting  and  resistance  can  surmount  this  natural 
phenomenon.  That  a  dead  person  is  unconscious  and 
can  not  appreciate  and  utilize  help  and  sympathy. 
That  the  living  should  forget  the  bereavement  of  the 
dead  as  soon  as  possible.  That  no  cultivated  person 
desires  his  friends  to  undergo  any  useless  hardships  on 
his  account,  for  the  fundamental  object  of  all  sentient 
beings  is  the  enjoyment  of  the  greatest  happiness,  and 
mourning  tends  to  intensify  and  prolong  the  depressed 
feeling  of  grief,  which  detracts  from  the  greater  hap- 
piness. 

"In  order  to  prevent  being  misunderstood,  let  me 
illustrate  my  meaning  by  an  example. 

"We,  no  doubt,  all  acknowledge  that  our  life  would 
be  a  miserable  one  if  our  burden  of  grief  were  always  2iS 
hard  to  bear  as  it  is  invncdiatcly  after  the  death  of  a 
dear  friend,  and  when  we  are  deeply  depressed  by  a 
burden  of  grief,  we  can  not  devote  ourselves  with  the 
same  energy  and  success  to  the  development  of  body 
and  mind,  and  grapple  with  the  phenomena  of  life  as 
we  can  when  our  vital  functions  act  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  the  most  complete  life  and  health ;  therefore, 
Jie  who  can  lay  aside  all  grief  and  melancholy,  caused  by 
the  deprivation  of  a  dear  relative  and  friend,  is  the  most 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  437 

complete  person,  while   he  who   must  bear  the  burden 
longest  is  the  most   incomplete  person   on   this  point. 
In  a  fierce  struggle  for  existence  the   latter  would,   no 
doubt,  soon  perish.     Hence    no    one  can   consistently 
and  successfully  defend  the   position   and   practice  of 
artificially  prolonging  our  grief  and  misery  by  wearing 
mourning  for   the    dead;    and    no    considerate    person 
would  desire  it  of  his  friends,  for  this  practice  of  wear- 
ing mourning  is  no  less  a  remnant  of  barbarism  than 
the  practice  of  interring  the  living  with  the  dead,  and 
he  who  feels  that  it  is  honorable,  and  that  his  dead 
friend  would  appreciate  it,  if  he  could,  must  necessarily 
lack  refinement  and  consideration  himself,  for  mourn- 
ing can  serve  no  good  purpose  for  either  the  living  or 
the  dead. 

"We  have  no  material  monuments;  no  memorial-, 
erected  over  our  material  remains.  We  believe  that 
the  deeds  we  do  while  we  live,  if  they  deserve  remem- 
brance, will  erect  a  mental  memorial  in  the  minds  of 
the  living,  which  will  serve  to  perpetuate  our  memory 
until  our  deeds  are  eclipsed  by  some  nobler  ones  of 
posterity. 

"Again,  when  we  examine  your  tombs  we  find  that 
nearly  all  the  great  monuments  have  been  erected  to  the 
honor  of  the  most  unworthy  and  infamous  persons- 
generals,  torturers,  despots  and  tyrants  and  bigots  who 
were  instrumental  in  taking  the  lives  of  thousands  of 
innocent  persons,  and  who  have  appropriated  countless 
billions  from  the  earnings  of  the  productive  laborers. 
The  principle  of  material  monuments  is  the  same, 
whether  contemplated  from  the  colossal  pyramids  of 
Egypt  or  from  the  humblest  tombstone  of  a  country 
cemetery;  costliness  is  the  only  difference. 


43'^  PRACTICAT.    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"From  the  foregoing  explanation  you  see  at  once 
that  all  obsequies,  mourning  and  memorials  originated 
in  primitive  barbarism;  and  were  first  practiced  by  sav- 
ages; that  they  are  wasteful,  useless  and  destructive  of 
life,  health  and  property;  that  they  fall  into  disuse  in 
proportion  as  man,  by  a  higher  state  of  culture,  begins 
to  see  that  they  detract  from  the  completest  life  and 
health,  and  are,  therefore,  destructive  of  the  greatest 
happiness,  and  that  no  thoughtful,  considerate  person 
would  desire  any  such  acts  from  surviving  friends  whom 
he  really  and  truly  loves." 

"Can  you  tell  me  why  the  savage  instituted  these 
practices  of  burying  the  living  with  the  dead,  of  fol- 
lowing the  dead  in  funeral  processions  to  their  'last 
resting  place,'  of  wearing  mourning,  and  of  erecting 
costly  monuments  on  their  tombs?"  asked  Rev.  Dud- 
ley. 

"Yes,  sir;  that  is  very  plain  to  the  Marsites,"  an- 
swered Mr.  Midith.  "I  can  account  for  that  as  easily  to 
my  satisfaction  as  I  can  account  for  the  physiological 
fact  that  we  require  food  in  order  to  sustain  life.  Let  us 
see  if  I  can  make  it  plain:  We  all  know  that  the  prim- 
itive savage  almost  universally  believes  in  a  conscious 
personal  existence  of  some  kind  after  death;  that  he 
deifies  certain  or  all  of  his  ancestors;  that  the  departed 
need  nearly  the  same  subsistence  as  they  do  in  this  life; 
that  the  living  may  incur  the  pleasure  or  displeasure  of 
the?  dead,  and  that  the  departed  have  the  power  of 
working  either  for  the  good  or  ill  of  the  survivors. 
Just  as  soon  as  we  believe  these  propositions  the  heca- 
tomb, the  obsequies,  the  mourning  and  the  monuments 
naturally  follow.  Thus  they  are  originated  in  and  are 
founded  on  superstition  and  uncertainty,  and  will  con- 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  439 

tinue  to  live  until  we  learn  by  a  higher  and  deeper  in- 
terpretation of  nature  that  the  vast  preponderance  of 
our  most  trustworthy  evidence  point  against  the  primi- 
tive hypothesis  of  a  conscious  personal  existence  after 
death;  and  that  the  warrant  for  believing  so  is  weaken- 
ing with  every  advancement  of  scientific  investigation 
and  discovery." 

"  You  have  so  far  told  us  nothing  concerning  the 
religious  beliefs  of  the  Marsites,"  said  Rev.  Dudley, 
"and  as  I  am  engaged  in  religious  work '  I  would  feel 
highly  interested  in  a  brief  account  of  their  religious 
sentiments.  You  have  more  than  an  hour  before  the 
train  leaves,  and  during  that  time  you  can  give  us  the 
principal  points  of  Marsian  theology." 

"  In  giving  you  our  religious  views,  if  I  may  call 
them  such,  you  must  remember  that  the  vast  majority 
of  your  people  are  yet  very  superstitious  on  the  relig- 
ious subject;  many  of  them  are  even  more  superstitious 
on  this  subject  than  they  are  on  the  social,  industrial 
and  sexual  questions.  Some  of  them  consider  it  even 
too  sacred  for  discussion.  Under  these  circumstances 
it  is  quite  difficult  to  tell  the  whole  truth  and  nothing 
but  the  truth  without  wounding  some  one's  feelings; 
but,  nevertheless,  if  you  desire  it,  I  shall  give  you  a 
short  account  of  it. 

"The  Marsites  are  'nearly  what  you  call  agnostics 
in  their  religious  beliefs,-  if  you  call  agnosticism  a 
religion." 

"I  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  agnosticism,  but  I 
am  not  sure  that  I  understand  its  fundamental  princi- 
ples. I  would  like  very  much  to  have  your  explan- 
tion  of  it,  especially  if  your  agnosticism  differs  from 
ours,"  said  Rev.  Dudley. 


440  PKACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

"Agnosticism  is  a  modern  doctrine  with  you.  It 
neither  asserts  nor  denies  the  existence  of  a  personal 
prayer-hearing  God,  a  conscious  personal  existence  af- 
ter death,  etc.  Mr.  Herbert  Spencer  is  the  father  of  it 
in  this  world.  It  teaches  that  the  human  mind  is  lim- 
ited in  the  sphere  of  knowledge,  and  that  we  can  not 
know  what  lies  beyond  this  limit.  It  is  alike  opposed 
to  dogmatic  atheism  and  dogmatic  theism.  It  is 
founded  on  the  'relativity  of  all  knowledge,'  that  is, 
things  can  be  known  only  under  certain  conditiofis,  but 
that  there  may  be  forms  of  existence  not  possessing 
these  requisite  conditions,  and  are,  therefore  beyond 
the  boundary  of  the  sphere  of  human  knowledge. 

"We  have  seen  that  knowing  implies  two  things — a 
conscious  subject  to  receive  the  impression  and  an  ob- 
ject to  make  it.  For  aught  we  know  there  may  be  forms 
of  existences  that  have  neither  matter  nor  gravitation, 
but  we  can  not  assert  this  as  a  fact,  because  the  data  of 
proof  and  disproof  are  inaccessible.  It  is  a  form  of 
existence,  if  it  does  exist,  that  does  not  excite  a  sensa- 
tion as  an  object  on  a  recipient  subject.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  with  us  that  all  knowledge  must  enter  the 
mind  through  the  channels  of  the  senses,  and  when- 
ever and  wherever  we  attempt  to  pass  beyond  the 
boundaries  of  the  phenomenal,  we  are  always  check- 
mated by  two  alternate  impossibilities  of  thought. 

"Nearly  all  of  your  foremost  thinkers  are  agnostics. 
This  seems  to  show  that  your  foremost  minds  are  fol- 
lowing us  right  up  in  religious  beliefs  and  that  there  is 
but  one  line  of  progress  here  as  well  as  elsewhere. 

"Before  we  proceed  any  further,  let  us  contemplate 
how  the  religious  sentiments  probabh^  originated  and 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  44I 

developed,  and  how,  under  a  better  acquaintance  with 
nature,  they  became  identical  with  it. 

"We  know  by  actual  experience,  from  the  present 
savages,  that  the  savage  knows  little  of  the  so-called 
natural  laws  and  that  he  is  very  superstitious.  We  also 
know  that  with  any  of  us  all  tricks  which  we  see  per- 
formed, but  which  we  do  not  understand  at  first,  lose 
their  miraculous  character  in  proportion  as  we  learn 
how  they  are  performed.  Just  so  it  is  with  natural  phe- 
nomena. At  first  when  man  does  not  understand  them, 
he  believes  them  to  be  the  acts  of  an  arbitrary  deity; 
but  as  soon  as  they  come  under  what  is  called  the  do- 
minion of  law,  they  lose  their  supernatural  character; 
they  are  then  nothing  but  the  uniformity  of  nature. 

"The  primitive  savage  knows  so  little  about  nature 
that  he  largely  runs  cross-grained  with  her,  and  nature 
punishes  him  for  every  violation  of  her  laws.  He  sees, 
hears  and  feels  so  many  things  that  he  can  not  account 
for.  He  sees  the  lofty  tree  torn  to  splinters  by  a  flash 
of  lightning.  He  hears  the  awful  peal  of  thunder.  He 
believes  that  nothing  can  happen  without  a  personal 
agency,  yet  he  sees  no  such  agency.  Again,  at  one  time 
his  abode  is  destroyed  by  an  earthquake,  or  a  sudden 
volcanic  eruption;  at  another  time  it  is  inundated  by  a 
flood.  At  one  season  of  the  year  he  suffers  from 
drought;  at  another  season  he  is  visited  by  destructive 
tornadoes  and  hailstorms.  His  improvidence  often 
causes  him  to  starve;  his  imprudence  to  go  to  war;  his 
ignorance  to  be  visited  by  painful  and  incurable  epi- 
demic, etc.  He  also  has  fearful  dreams  and  sometimes 
meets  raving  maniacs.  All  these  things  are  beyond 
his  understanding.  He  can  see  no  cause  for  them  and, 
therefore,    attributes    them    to    supernatural    agencies. 


442  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

He  is  pinched   and   punished   by  nature  so    often  for 
violating  her  laws,  the  existence  of  which  he  knows 
nothing,  that  he  is  almost  afraid  to  stir.     He  is  a  rude, 
cruel  creature  himself,  and,  therefore,  has  also  a  cruel 
god.     His  god,  like  himself,  delights  in  torture.     The 
savage  delights  in  receiving  the   humiliation  and  serv- 
ices of  his  'inferiors,'  and  imagines  that  his  all-powerful 
god  has  similar  feelings  and  requires  the  same  of  him. 
"Thus  you  see  how  deities  are  born.     The  savage 
has  many  of  them,  because  his   mind   is  incapable  of 
comprehending  how  one  can  rule  all  things;  they  are 
al^-o   rude   and  cruel  like   himself.     He  puts  the  same 
sentiments  in  his  deities  that  he  feels  in  his  own  breast. 
A  person  who  can  believe  that  an  all-powerful   God 
finds  delight  and  pleasure  in  torturing  a  creature  for  all 
eternity,  must  have  some  mean  blood  in  his  own  veins, 
for  it  is  very  probable  that  the  crudest  person  that  ever 
lived  would  get  his  revenge  satisfied  by  torturing  his 
worst  enemy  for  less  than  half?iV\  eternity.     Thus,  such 
a  person  makes  his  God  meaner,  more  cruel,  more  re- 
vengeful than  that  person  is  himself.   The  savage  knows 
of  but  few  natural  laws,  and  hence  he  puts  nearly  every- 
thing under  the  immediate  anci  arbitrary  supervision  of 
his  deities,  whose  anger  is  very  easily  excited.     But  as 
man  becomes  more  and  more  civilized,  his  deities  grow 
less  in  number;  they   also  become   kinder  and  more 
abstract.     The  process  of  discovering  laws  continues, 
until  at   last  he  concludes  that  all  things  are  governed 
and   maintained  by  law,  and   that  wherever  men  have 
not  yet  discovered  the  law  of  a  certain   phenomena, 
their  limited  knowledge  is  at  fault.     Thus  gradually  as 
the  mind  unfolds  and  the  heart  improves,  the  super- 
natural is  step  by  step  brought  within  the  domain  of 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  443 

the  natural,  and  the  personal  deities  slowly  become 
identical  and  at  one  with  the  Great  Fact  of  the 
universe. 

"  The  Marsites  claim  that  they  know  nothing  about 
supernaturalism,  and  that  by  the  very  nature  of  the 
knowing  process  nothing  can  be  known  about  it.  What 
we  claim  is,  that  there  may  be  a  personal  God  and 
there  may  not  be  one;  but  if  there  is  such  a  personal 
God,  the  kind,  cultured  can  conceive  of  Him  only  as 
being  kind  and  just,  having  no  revengeful  feelings  what- 
ever. You  see  the  Marsites  never  revengefully  punish 
any  one;  how,  then,  can  we  think  that  God  would;  for, 
if  we  would  think  so,  we  would  make  our  God  worse 
than  we  are  ourselves. 

"Similarly  we  know  nothing  of  a  conscious  personal 
existence  after  death.  We  believe  that  the  facts  of  the 
universe,  as  far  as  we  know  them,  point  in  the  direc- 
tion that  there  is  no  conscious  personal  existence  after 
death;  but  for  all  that,  there  may  be  just  such  a 
God,  soul,  heaven  and  hell,  as  you  folks  teach  there  is. 
No  one  can  either  prove  it  nor  disprove  it.  Hence 
we  are  not  at  all  positive,  like  you  are,  about  things 
that  lie  beyond  the  sphere  of  human  knowledge.  We 
are  fully  convinced  that  the  possibilities  of  thought  are 
not  co-extensive  and  identical  with  the  possibilities  of 
things.  But  we  also  believe,  if  there  is  a  conscious 
personal  existence  after  death,  that  things,  when  we 
get  there,  will  be  suited  to  that  life  the  same  as  we  find 
them  suited  here  to  this  life.  We  further  believe  that 
this  life,  in  order  to  make  it  as  good  and  complete  as 
possible,  requires  all  our  efforts  and  talent  to  live  up 
to  the  most  wholesome  relations  that  are  stamped  in 
the  very  nature  of  things.     There  is  more   about  ^/iis 


444  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

life  than  we  can  probably  ever  learn;  hence  we  have 
no  time  to  spare  for  gaining  the  favors  of  beings  in  a 
supposed  world,  of  which  we  know  nothing  definitely. 
The  /acts  oi  the  universe  are  the  highest  known  author- 
ity, and  he  who  lives  most  nearly  in  accord  with  them 
lives,  in  onr  opinion,  the  '  holiest  *  life. 

"  We  believe  that  the  universe  is  the  grandest  vol- 
ume ever  written  by  the  Creator.  It  contains  a  com- 
plete history  of  all  things.  Every  fossil,  every  plant, 
every  bud,  every  flower  and  every  organism  is  a  letter. 
It  does  not  even  end  with  oi^r  and  j'0!/r  little  earths. 

"All  the  other  planets  of  our  solar  system,  all  the 
moons,  all  the  meteors,  comets  and  nebulae,  all  the 
multitudes  of  stars  with  their  attending  host  scattered 
in  the  remotest  space  are  found  recorded  on  the  pages 
of  this  infinite  volume.  Its  w^ords,  phrases  and  sen- 
tences consist  of  phenomena. 

"This  sacred  volume  is  a  continuous  revelation; 
and  with  the  rise  of  a  higher  intelligence  and  a  keener 
sensibility,  it  commends  itself  to  a  rapidly  increasing 
number  of  devotees.  Every  obedience  of  its  com- 
mandments is  rewarded  by  happiness,  and  every  dis- 
obedience is  punished  by  pain,  right  here  in  this  life. 

"It  teaches  that  every  heart-beat  is  an  accent,  every 
budding  springtime  an  emphasis,  every  sunbeam  a 
smile,  every  pleasant,  blooming  face  a  prayer,  and 
every  harmonious  act  an  adoration. 

"All  who  especially  attribute  the  writing  of  any 
p3.rticu\3.r paper  volume  to  the  author  of  this  universal 
volume  infinitely  belittle  him. 

"When  we  consider,  then,  that  this  infinite  natural 
volume  contains  far  more  information  than  any  finite 
mind  can  ever  hope  to  grasp,    and    that    all   pain,    or 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  445 

misery,  results  from  an  inadequate  understanding  of 
this  sublime  revelation,  the  inevitable  conclusion  is  at 
once  forced  upon  all  impartial  minds,  that  in  order  to 
live  the  holiest  lives,  all  our  time  should  be  agreeably 
employed  in  learning  as  much  as  possible  of  its  con- 
tents; and  he  who  spends  his  time  in  any  other  devo- 
tion than  that  of  discovering  and  investigating  this 
phenomenal  book,  and  he  who  erects  any  other  temple 
of  adoration,  and  worships  at  any  other  shrine  than  the 
temple  of  intelligence,  is  disobeying  the  highest 
authority,  and  is,  therefore,  always  punished  by  the 
Creator  here  and  now. 

"That  the  Architect  of  the  universe  delights  in  hav- 
ing us  obey  the  commands  He  has  written  in  the  con- 
stitution of  things  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  He 
always  rewards  obedience  with  happiness  and  disobedi- 
ence with  pain.     For  example: 

"Healthful  exercise,  He  rewards  with  a  strong 
muscle  and  a  vigorous  mind.  A  well-adjusted  appetite. 
He  rewards  with  an  unimpaired  digestion  and  an  abun- 
dant assimilation.  To  him  who  does  not  violate  the 
circulatory  laws,  He  gives  a  pure,  firm,  plentiful  circu- 
lation. Regular,  healthful  habits.  He  rewards  with  a 
sensitive,  highly-adjusted  nervous  system,  a  bright  eye, 
rosy  cheeks,  and  an  elastic  step.  Industrious  voluntary 
co-operation,  He  rewards  with  abundance  and  harmony; 
peaceful  habits,  with  love  and  prosperity;  genius,  with 
improvement  and  progress;  true  justice,  with  equity 
and  abundance  to  all;  and  freedom,  with  the  highest 
form  of  happiness. 

"  But  let  us  look  at  it  from  still  another  standpoint; 
let  us  examine  whether  the   postulation  of  a   prayer- 


446  PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM. 

hearing  God  can  be  reconciled  with  the  scientific  world, 
with  the  '  liarmony  of  the  universe.' 

"If  God  is  affected  by  man's  prayer,  and  if  man  is 
a  '  free,  moral  agent,'  as  your  orthodox  world  claims 
him  to  be,  then  God's  action  must,  to  a  certain  extent, 
be  determined  by  and  dependent  on  the  arbitrary  fan- 
cies of  man's  devotional  exercises.  This  state  of 
affairs  would,  on  the  one  hand,  deprive  science  of  all 
its  certitude  ;  would  sever  the  continuity  and  destroy 
the  uniformity  of  nature;  would  probably,  by  an  inter- 
vention of  prayer,  make  action  which  is  equal  to  reac- 
tion one  day,  only  half  equal  to  it  the  next  day.  It 
would  also  rob  God  of  all  independent  activity  and 
make  Him  the  sport  of  man's  whims  and  passions.  But 
if,  on  the  other  hand,  God  is  not  affected  by  prayer, 
prayer  is  worse  than  useless;  for  it  involves  an  expend- 
iture of  vitality  which  should  be  all  utilized  for  useful 
activity,  as  we  have  seen.  Thus  we  see  that  a  prayer- 
hearing  God  and  a  'free,  moral  agent'  can  not  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  scientific  world." 

"  But  is  not  your  belief  a  cold,  uncertain  and  ab- 
stract one?"  asked  Rev:  Dudley. 

"  That,  no  doubt,  depends  altogether  on  the  evolu- 
tion of  the  mental  power  of  the  mind  that  contem- 
plates it.  To  a  Marsite  it  is  perfectly  satisfactory;  im- 
measurably more  so  than  the  belief  that  only  a  few  of 
all  the  multitudes  that  die  are  saved,  while  all  the  rest 
are  tortured  for  all  eternity.  To  a  Marsite  a  revenge- 
ful God,  a  heaven  with  a  monarch,  a  crown  and  a 
throne  are  highly  repugnant.  We  can  not  conceive 
that  we  can  be  happy  anywhere  as  long  as  vast  multi- 
tudes are  suffering  eternal  hell-fire.  Such  a  contempla- 
tion may  be  agreeable  to  your  folks,  but  never  to  us. 


PRACTICAL    CO-OPERATIVE    INDIVIDUALISM.  447 

"From  the  foregoing  remarks  concerning  our  relig- 
ious sentiments,  if  you  wish  to  call  them  such,  you 
see  at  once  that  we  have  no  creeds,  no  sectarian  an- 
tagonism, no  churches  and  cathedrals,  no  theological 
seminaries,  no  ordained  ministers,  no  synods  and 
ecclesiastical  councils,  no  religious  ceremonies  and  no 
adoration  of  a  supernatural  agency.  All  this  vast 
amount  of  wealth  and  labor  which  you  expend  in 
absolute  uncertainty  we  employ  in  finding  how  to  live 
the  most  complete  lives  here  and  now. 

"There  is  much  more  of  religion,  as  well  as  of  all 
other  information,  that  you  no  doubt  would  be  inter- 
ested in  and  which  I  will  tell  you  with  the  greatest  of 
pleasure  when  I  return  from  my  western  errand  in  a 
few  days.  It  is  now  almost  train  time,  and  I  shall  have 
to  take  my  departure  from  you  for  the  present  with 
the  assurance  of  fulfilling  my  'promise'  to  return  as 
soon  as  possible.  I  can  assure  you  that  the  time  I  have 
spent  with  you  has  by  far  been  my  happiest  days  on 
earth,  and  I  highly  appreciate  your  kind  hospitality 
and  congenial  sociability." 

"If  you  must  and  will  go,  Mr.  Midith,  we  will  all 
accompany  you  to  the  depot  and  see  you  off,"  said 
Viola,  to  which  all  consented  and  started. 

Soon  after  we  arrived  at  the  depot  the  "flyer" 
arrived.  After  we  had  all  given  our  parting  friend  a 
warm  pressure  of  the  hand,  in  which  he  warmly  recip- 
rocated and  also  imparted  a  kiss  on  Viola's  rosy  lips, 
he  mounted  the  slowly  moving  train,  which  was  soon 
out  of  sight.  We  departed  home  and  are  now  awaiting 
his  return,  when  we  will  ask  him  many  more  questions 
concerning  that  wonderful  world  of  his. 

THE    END. 


